FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Using drones to stop school shooters is considered by some a radical idea.

It’s coming to Broward Schools as part of a state pilot program.

“It’s going to help our security,” said Broward Schools Superintendent Howard Hepburn.

Austin Texas is headquarters for the company that makes and operates the drones.

They’ve been conducting test flights to turn the drones into first responders.

“I’ve seen it in person, in our own classrooms, the capability of these drones, said Hepburn.

How it works is schools would store the drones on campus, and once an alert comes in for an active shooter, they would be deployed and operated by the expert pilots in Austin, more than one thousand miles away from South Florida.

The goal is to distract the shooter and buy time for police to navigate to them.

“Being able to have a birds eye view of what’s going on in the hallway, classroom, (of the) potential shooter, things like that,” said Hepburn.

State pilot program using drones to thwart school shooters coming to Broward County

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Janine Stanwood