Cottage Grove has a new thermal drone, courtesy of the Cottage Grove Public Safety Board (PSB).
Presented to the Public Safety Department at the Sept. 17 Council meeting, the new DJI Matrice 4 Series drone priced at $10,536.15 will assist local public safety in such things as search and rescue, responding to emergencies, and keeping Cottage Grove safe. Cottage Grove has had a drone program since 1999, with two operational drones and 11 officers trained as drone operators.
“Both of those drones are a bit dated, hence the reason that there’s a need for a new drone,” Cottage Grove Polic Captain Brad Peterson said of the need for new hardware. Also factoring into the recent donation was the FAA requirement of radio ID as of March 2024, allowing air traffic control to monitor drones flying above the legal elevation limit, as well as outdated camera and thermal imaging systems.
“Our drones that we purchased in 2019 lacked that capability,” Captain Peterson said of radio ID.
Local Public Safety Department uses for the drone program include aiding police in search for criminal suspects and lost persons, providing overwatch of large events, SWAT situations (large areas searches), Emergency Management Needs such as monitoring water levels and finding natural disaster victims, and providing different views of structure fires and wildfires.
As for the new drone, the DJI Matrice 4 Series includes several important features, among them a tri camera payload, 49 minute battery life, and a several mile long transmission range. The DJI Matrice 4 can go 47 miles per hour and weighs under three pounds.
Equipped as well with an RTK (real time kinematics) module, the Matrice 4 model allows for accuracy enhancements up to 20 miles from its base station, with additional features including a state of the art thermal imaging camera and software, map overlays displaying road names, house numbers and business names, high power zoom capability, and AI software that can identify cars, vehicles, and boats.
“On behalf of the Cottage Grove Police Department and Public Safety as a whole I want to say thank you to the Public Safety Board for this amazing domination of this new drone, with the amount in excess of $10,000. I know you guys worked really hard to raise that money. I just want to say thank you for supporting our mission and making the community safer,” Peterson said.
Motion to accept the drone donation was made by Council member David Thiede and seconded by Council member Monique Garza, passing unanimously.
PSB Chair Julie Rice meanwhile shared more on how the group fundraises for enhancements to public safety.
“The Public Safety Board does a lot of fundraising in Cottage Grove along with the residents that purchase many items that we have for sale. We sell these great little plushy dogs which are our canine dogs, and we’re in the process of purchasing a new canine, so we’re selling these. They’re $20, and this helps us fundraise to the utmost extent to get things bought for police, fire and EMS.” Rice went on to say that canine and sparky dog plushies will be for sale at the Fire Open House Tuesday Oct. 7 at 5 p.m. at 8641 80th Street South, in Cottage Grove.