About 29 miles east of San Francisco, CA, lies the city of Concord. With a population of close to 130,000, Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County. On April 6, 2020, the CPD swore in its newest Chief of Police, Mark Bustillos. Chief Bustillos received a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University, a Master’s in Public Policy from Claremont Graduate School, and trained with the Senior Management Institute for Police through the Police Executive Research Forum.

As a 27 year veteran police officer, Chief Bustillos was previously working for the San Jose Police Department. His work in San Jose introduced Chief Bustillos to technology that has been making modern policing safer and more efficient. After a little more than a year with the CPD, Chief Bustillos has brought some of that technology to Concord, namely drones. Police officers primarily use drones to assist in search and rescue missions. Drones have proven to be far more effective in locating missing individuals than ground crews or even manned aerial vehicles.

Other areas police departments use drone technology is in monitoring high traffic areas, inspecting and collecting evidence from traffic and crime scenes, assessing possible high risk situations before sending in officers, and even tracking suspects evading officers. In the past, the CPD would reach out to neighboring police departments with an existing drone program when in need of drone support. This is a common procedure for smaller communities, sharing emergency resources. But as Chief Bustillos pointed out to the Concord City Council, Concord is too large of a community to not have a police drone program.

Chief Bustillos presented to the council how having to wait for a drone to arrive from a neighboring department could have dire consequences. Recently, a 6 year old boy with autism went missing at Newhall Community Park. CPD called in drone assistance and was told that it would be at least 25 minutes before the drone and pilot arrived on the scene. Luckily, the child was found before the drone got to the park. But next time, Chief Bustillos warned, a victim may not be as fortunate.

The Concord City Council unanimously voted to approve Chief Bustillos’ drone program, even though there had been some mounting concerns from the community as to how the drones would be used. Chief Bustillos guaranteed that police drones would not be used “to harass, intimidate, or discriminate against any individual or group, or in a reckless or negligent manner.” Chief Bustillos also made it clear that all drone footage would follow the same rules governing police body cameras. The footage would be made available in a public log and saved for 2 years.

The CPD still has to purchase the drones and train and license officers to use them. Making this possible is a generous donation of $30,000 from Marathon Petroleum, a private oil company based out of Findlay, OH. It will be some time before the CPD can implement the drone program. In the meantime, they will continue to rely on support from other departments, and gladly share the support when they are able. The city council is looking forward to how this program will benefit the citizens of Concord after reviewing a detailed report on the first 3 months of drone operations.