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Hello everyone, I did this last year and figured I'd toss it out there again. I work as a police officer in the Chicago-land area and was a 911 dispatcher for several years before that.

I wear a couple of different hats at the department as a defensive tactics instructor, firearms instructor, detective, and I also work as part of a major crash investigation team. I'm a federally licensed (Part 107) drone pilot, which is actually a lot of fun too.

In my spare time, I'm an advisor for the Explorer Post and help coordinate community programs like Shop with a Cop, food drives before the holidays, Cops vs. Kids events, and other like things. I manage to keep busy which probably helps keep me out of trouble .

Thanks for reading this. I hope everyone has a good day/night, whatever your case might be, and I'll get to any questions as quickly as I can.

Hi!

How did you become a drone pilot? Did you apply for it yourself, or were you recommend to do so? What’s the training like?

Hello!

It was through the crash team primarily. We used to use total stations, like what you see contractors doing on the sides of roads, to document crash scenes. We've since switched to drones because they're much more efficient. I can do in 30 minutes what it would take 3 hours to do the old way.

The actual certification wasn't too difficult. I took a day-long training class about the FAA test then studied before going to take it. For me, it was at a local small airport. Once I passed, they sent me my license a few days later. Then there was more training from the team about how they want the scenes flown; altitudes, angles, photographs they want, etc. We then upload everything into a program called Pix4D that takes all the individual pictures, matches pixels, and collates them all into one larger whole.

We do flight training a few times a year but we fly for every crash which can be 60+ over the course of the year. We're only called out for ones where someone is confirmed deceased or death I'd imminent. Beyond the scene, we also fly the vehicles later for crush measurements. There's a lot of math involved but how deep the car crushed can tell us how fast it was going at impact. Drones just make it quicker and easier, plus it's cool to have a 3D model of the actual vehicle to show jurors if it goes to trial.

Thank you for you're service to the public.

While on the job, have you ever witnessed something that amazed you but could never explain because it never made sense?

Something that amazed me? I can't think of anything specific that really stands out. Nothing I'd consider supernatural or anything like that. I did see a UFO once (as in something flying that didn't look like a normal plane/helicopter). I wouldn't say it was aliens but it was definitely odd. We've had other people call in UFOs too and some older folks have called about ghosts in their houses. My experience is usually the elderly calling about ghosts are just really lonely and need someone to visit with them from time to time.

As someone in the same line of work, I just want to say how cool it is to see someone similar on here!

I always have so much respect for the instructors, because I ultimately believe they set the foundation for how well officers will perform out in the field, and prepares them for the situations they will handle. With that said: do you have any funny stories from any of the trainings/teachings?