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Lifeguards Get New Teammates – Police Drones

Christopher South
Members of the media taking images of a drone in flight at Beach Patrol headquarters.

By Christopher South

OCEAN CITY – The Police Department has unveiled one of the newest features of its drones unit – assisting in rescues of swimmers in trouble.

On Wednesday, June 11, the department’s UAS Unit – UAS stands for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or drones – teamed up with the Beach Patrol to run a training exercise at the 12th Avenue beach, where Beach Patrol headquarters is located.

The main event was the deployment of inflatable life-saving tubes. According to Police Lt. Bob Reichanek, who played the victim in the exercise, the drone has two life-saving tubes.

The tubes are contained in a red bag, and when the device hits the water, the tube inflates and then can be grasped by the victim. The devices have a CO2 cartridge that contains a manual release and a water-soluble trigger that releases the CO2 to inflate the tube.

Reichanek said he weighs 210 pounds, and the floatation tube, placed across his chest and under his arms, was able to keep him afloat.

The June 11 exercise included a response from lifeguards, who reached Reichanek on a paddleboard and brought him to shore. In the event of an after-hours rescue, when people should not be swimming, a drone can be deployed and a flotation device delivered to the victim.

Reichanek said that while he was out in the water he was able to see and hear the drone as it approached him.

According to Lt. Mark Pancoast, who leads the UAS Unit, the Police Department now has 11 UAS pilots trained and able to respond with one of four drones, two of which are model DJI-M30-T, and two model DJI-Minis, the latter of which are primarily flown indoors.

Drones are being used indoors to gather information to help police make decisions on how to handle situations, to survey potentially hazardous situations and to document crime scenes more accurately and solve cases faster.

Modern drones can be equipped with thermal imaging devices that can locate hot spots in a building where a fire has been reported, or to find a person in the ocean.

Pancoast said the thermal imaging aspect was used recently to locate a person on a second-floor roof, bringing a quicker end to the search.

He said as costs come down the benefits of using drones are continually being revealed to first responders. However, the most common use for the department’s drones is search and rescue.

“Now you can locate and get help to people so much quicker,” Pancoast said.

Rescue “victim” Lt. Bob Reichanek speaking to reporters after the UAS Unit’s training exercise.

He said as time went on the department was able to leverage the cost of the new technology as it finds different ways to proactively use drones. He said the DJI-M30-T drones, which are named “Karl” and “Kraig,” would have cost $20,000 less than two years ago.

“They have come down almost $10,000, and this model really seems to be the best – it encompasses everything we want it to do,” Pancoast said.

He said the department’s view of drones changed in 2024 when a new command staff was put in place. He said one of the goals of current Police Chief Bill Campbell was to establish a drone unit.

He said the department set out to establish the basis for the unit before investing in the equipment, determining the logistics, learning about FAA regulations and training the pilots. He said that in May 2024 the department started training, and by June it was using drones for public safety purposes.

Pancoast said most police departments in Cape May County have established a drone unit, and they have been good at communicating with each other.

“We have a pretty good relationship with the other departments and talk about our units. If we figure out something we can do with it we share the information and vice versa,” he said.

According to Pancoast, the working relationship also extends to the Fire Department and the Beach Patrol, and the use of drone technology was not a hard sell for them. One thing that he said did not seem to get much notice during the exercise was that the command staff, including the Fire Department and Beach Patrol, were monitoring livestream video of the drone’s entire flight.

“If they were to deploy a jet ski or boat the command staff can relay information to them,” he said.

Pancoast said that the drones are not being used to record citizens going about their business. He said the data recorded via the drones is maintained by the department, and it attempts to avoid recording the public.

He said the plan is to train across departments four times a year, looking at the mission of each department, then come back and discuss what they have learned.

While the use of drones can cut seconds or minutes off rescue times, Pancoast said, water rescues are not the primary mission of the UAS Unit. And although the drones are always on duty, he advises people to take the time-tested advice of “Swim near a lifeguard.”

Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.

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