Establishing a Drone First Responder Program with Matt Rowland of FWPD

In this episode of Dronecast: Rethinking Public Safety, One Drone at a Time, host John McLeod speaks to Matt Rowland, Air Support Unit sUAS Pilot for the Fort Wayne Police Department. They discuss the reality of starting a drone first responder program, what it was like to run drones for President Trump in 2018, and how to make the right decisions when building a program from the ground up. For the past 18 years, Matt has been involved with FWPD, including acting as a founding member of the drone program (the ASU), which started in 2017 when the Lieutenant wanted to incorporate drones as overwatch on SWAT calls. In 2021, he helped roll out the Drone First Responder, and he has been mapping car crashes and outdoor crime scenes with drones since 2018. He truly is a pioneer in innovating with drones in the public safety space. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here . Episode Resources: FWPD ASU on Instagram Email Matt: matt.rowland@cityoffortwayne.org Call Matt: 260-427-2385 DroneSense Website Dronecast: Rethinking Public Safety, One Drone at a Time Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so Previous Guests include: Matt Rowland, Jason Burnside Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes: Revolutionizing Emergency Response: Chris Lester on Drones in EMS Navigating Drone Program Challenges: Lessons from George Mason University Navigating the Future of Counter-Drone Operations: Insights from Jack Venables Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn