ALEA releases standards for public safety drone programmes
ALEA is encouraging public safety agencies considering drone operations to use these standards as a guiding document.
The US-based Airborne Law Enforcement Association (ALEA) has released a set of standards for public safety small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) programmes. The standards were developed by the Public Safety Aviation Accreditation Commission (PSAAC) under contract to ALEA for use by the public safety aviation community. ALEA is encouraging public safety agencies considering drone operations to use these standards as a guiding document, while those already operating sUAS are encouraged to ‘review these standards and perform an internal gap analysis to determine their compliance with industry best practices’.
ALEA explained: “As the integration of sUAS technology into public safety operations continues to increase, the development of best practice standards that address the safe, efficient and ethical use of small unmanned aircraft for all public safety missions is vitally important. The new sUAS standards contain five sections (administration, flight operations, safety, training and maintenance) and provide guidance on the tactical, legal and ethical use of sUAS. The standards provide a set of best practices for agencies already using, or considering the use of small unmanned aircraft. Adherence to these standards will provide assurance to the civilian community that its public safety agency is operating in accordance with well-established, safe, efficient and ethical practices. “
The standards are available from the PSAAC website.