Drones Added to Lompoc Police’s Safety Efforts For The New Year
LOMPOC, Calif. (KEYT) - The Lompoc Police Department is heading into 2026 with some new initiatives, including the use of a drone for emergency calls.
There are two new programs we're learning about.
Some upcoming enhancements to traffic safety are courtesy of grant funding from the state provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and a pilot program for drones to assist first responders will begin in the next couple months.
A $35,000 grant was awarded to the Lompoc police from the office of traffic safety to increase DUI checkpoints, expand field training to officers for recognizing impairment, and enforcement operations focused on the worst of traffic behaviors.
“There's plenty of traffic problems that the city of Lompoc has, like other cities,” says Sgt. Scott Morgan of the Lompoc Police Department community services department. “And so this grant helps us fund some of these extra positions for officers to be out there.”
The goal for increasing police presence is to reduce traffic violations and incidents resulting from them.
“We will not only have checkpoints, but we'll also have DUI saturations where officers will be dedicated to looking for people out, driving impaired,” says Sgt. Morgan. “So, think long and hard before getting in the car when you're inebriated.”
In addition to the traffic safety grant, a two-year pilot program for the Drones as First Responders initiative—or D.F.R.—will be getting its practical start within the next few weeks, after some strict procedural guidelines are agreed upon for protection of privacy.
“I know that people are concerned about transparency and privacy, And the policy will show that it's for 911 calls only, and then they'll have access to whatever the flight plan is that the drone flew on,” says Kevin Martin, Lompoc Police Chief. “They can actually see if it was us or not.”
These initiatives are expected to act as deterrents as much as providing assistance on any given scene.
“That's going to make them less likely to drive like that when they know we're out there on DUI saturation patrols and there's an extra two or three officers out there,” says Sgt. Morgan. “They know and they might tell their friend, hey, don't drive.”
The Drones As First Responder program will be thoroughly reviewed at the end of the two-year pilot phase before renewal.
Overall, these new programs are expected to streamline operations for Lompoc Police to increase public safety and reduce incidents that call for their involvement.
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