Unmanned Aircraft Systems Team

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Team

The Story County Sheriff's Office UAS Team falls under the Support Services Division of the Story County Sheriff's Office. This Team is comprised of more than a a dozen full time Sheriff's Office employees and volunteers who hold current FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certification. Together, they stand ready to provide 24/7 on-call service to assist in the execution of any public safety operation both in Story County, as well as surrounding communities through mutual-aid efforts. 

The Story County UAS Team maintains a fleet of ten unmanned aircraft that are utilized for operational over watch, disaster response, fugitive apprehension, and any other situation that may be supplemented by the services this team provides. Types of situations that may warrant UAS Team activation include assisting local fire departments by providing accurate thermal imagery of active fires, conducting search and rescue operations, and gathering crucial information on the locations, movements, and descriptions of suspects and victims involved with critical incidents in and around Story County.

Each individual member of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Team is scheduled to complete annually nearly 100 hours of instruction during monthly in-service training sessions. Areas of instruction include (but are not limited to) search and rescue tactics, current unmanned aerial systems case law, and airspace familiarization. In addition to these scheduled in-service training sessions, all team members are also required to complete any and all recurrent mandatory FAA recertification testing.