Lakeland Police Detective Mark Pothier demonstrates the Lakeland Police Department's drone to the 2024 class of LPD High School Police Academy students.
Lakeland Police Detective Mark Pothier demonstrates the Lakeland Police Department's drone to the 2024 class of LPD High School Police Academy students. | Kimberly C. Moore, LkldNow
2-minute read

The Lakeland Police Department is expected to have an eye in the sky again within the next two months. The change comes after the Lakeland City Commission on Monday approved accepting a $125,000 grant from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to buy five new, American-made drones.

The vote was 6-0, with Commissioner Bill “Tiger” Read absent.

State statute: The Florida Legislature voted in 2022 to ground all governmental agency drone programs in the state by Jan. 1, 2023, citing security concerns for drones not produced by an approved manufacturer. The move left LPD with five drones that were no longer usable because they were made in China.

Funding: During the 2023 Legislative Session, FDLE appropriated about $25 million in nonrecurring funds to implement the Drone Replacement Grant Program. Funds reimburse law enforcement agencies that also relinquish noncompliant drones to FDLE for analysis to determine if “foreign governments of concern” were able to access drone information.

The analysis will take place at the Florida Center for Cybersecurity at the University of South Florida.

Contract: The drone contract with Axon/Skydio is $25,000 per drone for three years. Assistant Chief of Police Hans Lehman told commissioners that they are beginning to look into funding to update the drones’ software or replace the drones after three years.

Additional insurance, pilot software and use of evidence.com is approximately $12,000 each year and will be absorbed through LPD’s asset forfeiture funds. The city will also buy one additional state-compliant drone from BRINC, based in Seattle, Washington.

Axon is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Skydio is based in San Mateo, California.

The total the city will spend is $162,095.

The drones have heat-sensors to detect body heat coming from a missing person or a criminal on the run and also video recording capabilities.

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Kimberly C. Moore, who grew up in Lakeland, has been a print, broadcast and multimedia journalist for more than 30 years. Before coming to LkldNow in the spring of 2022, she was a reporter for four years with The Ledger, first covering Lakeland City Hall and then Polk County schools. She is the author of “Star Crossed: The Story of Astronaut Lisa Nowak," published by University Press of Florida. Reach her at kimberly@lkldnow.com or 863-272-9250.

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