The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has almost doubled its drone unit in the past year. Thirty-four new rapidly deployable drones are ready to soar within seconds of being on scene and are being used for multiple purposes like finding a missing person, or observing an area to ensure it is safe for the public and law enforcement.
Sergeant Delianys Morera supervises the CCSO’s Drone Unit. She offered a rundown on how the high tech tools are also a powerful force to open the lines of human connection during times of crisis.
“It is crucial because it de-escalates situations. I have seen situations where a person who has been mental distress, and the presence of a deputy has agitated that, but they can back up," she said. "The drone helped units on scene …keep eyes on the person but not agitating the situation. So we were able to talk to that person and communicate, de-escalate, negotiate with that person. The community remains safe, the deputies on scene remain safe. And the person in distress, remains safe. “
Billy Gessner is a drone pilot and tech manager for the Collier County Sheriff’s Real Time Operations Center.
“We can clear rooms. We can clear vehicles and provide observational awareness to responding deputies before they get into harm’s way," he said. "If there is a barricaded subject in a house, we can send a drone in the house to get a lay of the land before we even send an individual or a responding deputy inside the house — that is officer safety.”
Gessner said Sheriff Kevin Rambosk expanded the department's drone unit, purchasing 34 drones for almost $700,000 in 2025. He said the majority of the cost, more than $450,000, was paid for with a grant from the state of Florida.
“Florida passed legislation that we are no longer allowed to use drones from countries of foreign concern, one of those is China," Gezzner said. "(China) made DJI products. We are no longer allowed to use DJI. We had to return all of our drones and were afforded the opportunity by FDLE to return those drones to FDLE and get funding from them to buy new drones Made in America.”
Gessner said part of the expansion includes hiring new drone pilots.
“We were just around 18 a few months ago. We put out feelers to say 'hey do you want to join the drone unit?' We had almost 30 people that wanted to join within a week, so we set them up to take the (FAA's Small UAS Rule) Part 107 exam and we put them through a class,” he said. “Every single person that went to our class that took the exam, passed the exam to become a pilot.”
Gessner says that due to the size of Collier County, twenty-three hundred square miles, pilots are taking part in a drone call-out program. The pilots take drones home with them, so they can respond to emergencies in a timely manner all over the county, including Immokalee and in the Everglades.
“We have found missing elderly individuals face down in the water. It does save lives, not only officers’ lives, but also the community’s lives as well," Gessner said.
He said CCSO also uses drones to take images to reconstruct accident scenes and prepare for large public events like festivals and the upcoming Collier County Fair.
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