From Ground to Air: Developing a Drone Curriculum for Law Enforcement Education

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have proven very beneficial for law enforcement activities and are used for search & rescue, surveillance, and crime scene reconstruction. As such, integrating this innovation into the law enforcement curriculum at two-year community colleges is becoming significantly important. This study surveyed 94 law enforcement officers and asked them to rank how vital 31 curriculum items were to include in a UAS certificate program. The researchers found three key conclusions from the top third-ranked curriculum items. First, the study participants thought regulations were critically important to include in the curriculum. “Federal and state UAS regulations” was the highest-ranked item in the survey, and “concepts assessed with FAA Part 107 licensing exam” ranked third highest. Learning to operate a drone is very important, with “basic flight skills,” “intermediary flight skills,” and “advanced flight skills” listed as separate curriculum items. The third key conclusion is that students should know how to conduct general missions, supported by high rankings for night missions, ethics, mission planning, risk management, and overwatch and command center techniques. This emphasis on practical drone operation skills underscores their growing importance in law enforcement training. It reflects the increasing need for a curriculum that thoroughly prepares students for real-world law enforcement scenarios, equipping them with the ability to effectively employ UAS technology in various operational contexts.