New by-law drone to take flight in Leamington

Leamington by-law officers will soon be using drones to get a bird’s eye view of any problems.

“With support of our administration and council they supported this initiative for us to do for our guys,” said department manager Mike Gruszka.

Two of the five member department has been trained to utilize the drone, which belongs to the fire department but will be shared with the by-law officers.

“There was an online component that was very extensive for the officers to go through that took weeks and several exams,” Gruszka said.

Austin Aldridge completed an in-person training course last week.

“Learning to fly it is probably the easiest side of it,” he said. “The important part is what you legally can and cannot do.”

Aldridge recalls a situation a year ago where an inspection was needed at the back of a large farm and they were worried about getting stuck because of the muddy conditions.

“This is the kind of situation where we wouldn't have to worry,” he said. “We could just stand at the side of the road, maintain visual contact, fly onto the property to do the inspection that we have to perform.”

Having a drone also provides officers with a layer of safety when dealing with all property sizes, day and night.

“We don't know exactly what we're getting ourselves into when we enter that property safety wise for our officers, animals, the terrain, potholes,” he said.

The drone has a speaker that can alert a property owner of by-law presence. It has bright light and infrared capabilities. Multiple pictures can be taken and used through a program to create 3D imaging.

“We can now show every angle of the property instead of one picture here and one picture there,” said Aldridge.

The drone will only be deployed when the proper legal permissions have been obtained.

“This piece of equipment is not changing any of the laws or enhancing, we're not getting more power from this,” said Gruszka.