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State Puts Hold On Drone Security Testing At SW Ohio Prisons
By: Associated Press
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Ohio’s prisons agency says it has put a hold on its testing of drones as a security measure to keep watch over two corrections facilities.
The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction began testing the unmanned aerial vehicles at prisons in Lebanon and Warren in southwest Ohio in October. But the agency’s operations managing director Ed Voorhies tells the Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News that the testing has stopped.
Voorhies says officials quickly learned that one device being tested didn’t have strong enough cameras for prisons’ security needs. Officials decided the $170,000 balloon-shaped camera device wasn’t a good investment of tax dollars.
Researchers continue to work with prison officials to develop outdoor security systems and drones remain a possibility.
Voorhies says the agency is looking for technological solutions to augment existing security.