New DPD Chief says department will be operating with 'newest state of the art technology'

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — Newly appointed Decatur Police Department Chief, Brad Allen, said the department is continuing to work at expanding their technological resources available.

Decatur City Council passed a resolution in May to approve a five-year $552,000 contract with Axon Enterprise. It offers various body and dash cam tools, as well as software to review evidence and assist in identifying suspects in videos. "That's a huge benefit and a huge gain to Decatur to have all that technology brought into a single platform." Allen said.

In addition to Flock cameras and an upgrade to dispatch and their record management system, Chief Allen is looking towards the future. He hopes to put more eyes in the skies by implementing a Drone First Responder Program. "The drone [would be] becoming your eyes and ears when a call comes in." Allen explained. "So you could launch a drone and it would go to an area and, start providing information."

For now, DPD will continue using drone pilots on a case-by-case basis.