The Airborne Law Enforcement Association (ALEA) is pleased to announce the adoption and release of the Standards for Public Safety Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) Programs. These standards were developed by the Public Safety Aviation Accreditation Commission (PSAAC) under contract to ALEA for use by the public safety aviation community. Public safety agencies considering sUAS operations are encouraged to use these standards as a guiding document, while public safety agencies already operating sUAS are encouraged to review these standards and perform an internal gap analysis to determine their compliance with industry best practices. As the integration of sUAS technology into public safety operations continues to increase, the development of best practice standards that address the safe, efficient and ethical use of small unmanned aircraft for all public safety missions is vitally important.

The new sUAS standards contain five sections; Administration, Flight Operations, Safety, Training and Maintenance and provide guidance on the tactical, legal and ethical use of sUAS. The standards provide a set of best practices for agencies already using, or considering the use of small unmanned aircraft. Adherence to these standards will provide assurance to the civilian community that its public safety agency is operating in accordance with well-established, safe, efficient and ethical practices. We invite ALEA members engaged in sUAS programs to download the Standards from our website (www.alea.org) and adopt them as best practice operational policy and procedures and incorporate them into the program’s Operations Manual for use in support of your respective agency’s sUAS mission.