ISP talks about the value of their drone program

On Thursday, The Idaho State Police held a drone demonstration in Pocatello. The ISP has been utilizing drones for close to a year. They said it has helped with evidence collection and gives them aerial footage of crime scenes and crashes.

While the ISP hopes to expand their unmanned aerial systems program, they want to make it clear they are not trying to violate the publics privacy.

“We want to let them know what we are using the drones for and let them know we are sensitive of the expectations of privacy issues and in certain instances we will be getting search warrants if we are going to use them and certainly it is not an invasion of privacy tool for us,” commented Captain John Ganske of the Idaho State Police.

Currently 13 troopers in Idaho are licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration to operate the drones.

ISP said they have six drones. The cost of just one of them is around $1,500.