The Washington County Sheriff’s Office & Department of Public Safety have joined together to establish a small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) Response Team which is available to any of our local municipal partners and Public Safety field partners throughout Washington County, New York! 

All of our response team members train together regularly and are FAA Part 107 Certificated remote pilots. Our primary mission is to aid in and support our local municipal partners (Towns and Villages) and our Law Enforcement, Fire / EMS and HazMat agencies.

Small Unmanned Aerial Systems Response operations may be limited by factors such as incident location airspace, weather and night factors, however, if we can safely fly and support your mission, we will! 

In what situations might an sUAS be helpful?
• Situational Awareness / Scene Overviews for Incident Commanders (Law Enforcement, Fire, EMS, HazMat, Local Governments)
• Lost / Missing Persons Searches
• Scene Documentation from the Air
• Hazardous Materials Incidents
• Emergency Management / Coordination of Multi-Agency Incidents
• Critical Infrastructure Inspection / Inventories (Towers, Buildings, Bridges, etc.)

How do you request an sUAS response?
• Incident Commanders can contact the Washington County Public Safety Communications Center at (518)747-3325

What information should you provide?
• Type of incident (search, hazmat, etc.)
• Information for an on-scene contact person
• Location
• Approximate area of operations
• Approximate time frame of operations
• Any other airborne assets in the area (i.e., helicopter, other sUAS etc.)?