County of Dinwiddie awards Advexure Unmanned for Purchase of Search & Rescue Drone

DINWIDDIE, VA – Advexure Unmanned Systems has been awarded a multi-year
contract through an initial purchase of a DJI Matrice 300 RTK, accessories, software,
training, and support services for $28,458 in a joint project between the Dinwiddie
Sheriff’s Office and Dinwiddie Public Safety.

According to Deputy Sheriff Charles Lucy, the drone’s primary function will be for
search and rescue missions. Dinwiddie County has numerous group homes and
adult living facilities where people will often walk away leading some to pass away
from exposure to the cold, or getting into bodies of water.

Advexure Unmanned Systems​ was selected for the purchase through a competitive
bid process and has furnished Dinwiddie County with a complete drone system,
camera payload, training drone for new pilot training and certification, support
accessories, and training services. In addition, Advexure has outfitted Dinwiddie
with DroneSense software, which is a management platform for live streaming and
operations management for incident commanders to have a birds eye view via
livestream during a large fire or other incident where an aerial view can help assist
to direct ground units.

“Civil unrest has been going on in cities with large crowds, this unit allows us to
minimize officer exposure if there’s large events to allow us to put an eye on a large
area without having to expose our officers,” said Lucy. Usage of the new drone
system could, however, not begin for a few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic
and the process of approving use. Certifying bodies that approve training
credentials to operators of the drone now have limitations due to COVID. Standing
operating procedures and mutual aid agreements will also have to be drawn before
the drone is used. “This will not be used immediately, this will take numerous
officers to be able to operate and that will take numerous hours of training,” said
Lucy.

Advexure has outfitted and trained departments on the use of similar drone
systems to Dinwiddie’s along with many other public safety and search and rescue
drones to dozens of counties in Virginia and across North America. Advexure’s
Director of Public Safety Integration, Travis Waibel, mentioned that Advexure, who
is headquartered in Los Angeles, has worked extensively with many departments
and agencies across the state of Virginia since about 2016 to further the adoption
of UAS in public safety.

Advexure also works with Dinwiddie’s neighbor in Chesterfield, VA. Chesterfield’s Police and Fire/EMS units recommended the drone system that Dinwiddie purchased as they have the same model and recognized its quality along with Advexure’s service reputation and commitment to public safety.

“Virginia has been a state that has quickly adopted UAS/drones and has had a
tremendous amount of success deploying drones to locate missing persons, reduce
risk for first responders, and leverage technology to enhance the efficiency of
public safety operations,” said Waibel. Advexure also currently actively works with
agencies in the counties of Albemarle, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Fredericksburg,
Spotsylvania and with George Mason University. Advexure’s widespread network of
partner agencies has enabled the formation of regional mutual aid response with
UAS and standardization of UAS training and operations across the state. Waibel
added, “drones are just another tool in the toolbox for police departments and
fire/emergency services to leverage,” and “the Advexure team enjoys seeing and
hearing successful UAS missions and deployments from our partners across all
facets of public safety across the country.”

About Advexure

Founded in 2012, Advexure Unmanned Systems is one of North America’s largest
dealers, distributors, and training providers for unmanned drone systems and UAS
technology solutions. Advexure specializes in drone fleet solutions for government,
public safety, utilities, inspection, film and cinema along other enterprise verticals.
The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.

Learn more about Advexure at Advexure.com, and on social media @advexure.