West Valley City weighs a free BRINC drone trial that rolls into an $874,985 contract

The West Valley City Council in Utah votes on 10 November on a deal with Motorola Solutions that would give the police department three BRINC drones for a year at no cost: a docked Guardian sent directly to calls, a Responder launched from police vehicles and a Lemur 2 for indoor SWAT work.

Motorola's quote totals $874,985: nothing in the first year, then $174,997 a year for years two to six. Unless West Valley cancels, which it can do at no cost in the first year, Motorola's contract moves it into the paid years automatically. During the trial BRINC would be the city's only drone-as-first-responder supplier. Motorola led BRINC's $125 million funding round in July.

Police Chief Colleen Jacobs told the council on 27 October that the drones are for emergency response, not surveillance, and that earlier demonstrations cut response times. DroneXL reported that neither the camera rule she described nor a data retention period appears in the documents posted for the vote. The city has held an FAA waiver since April for flights beyond visual line of sight.