4 TIMES • AUGUST 13, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.timesnewsweekly.com 104COP’s new quad-copter that will be used to help find missing persons. BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport The 104th Precinct Civilian Observation Patrol (104COP) is taking to the skies with its newest piece of equipment, a Phantom 3 Advanced quad-copter. The quad-copter is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can be remotely piloted from the ground. Mark Pearson, president of 104COP, gave the Ridgewood Times a demonstration of the quadcopter and its abilities at Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village on Aug. 7. “The number one reason we got it was to help when searching for missing persons, especially children,” Pearson said. “One of our members suggested getting one and I thought it would be a great opportunity to help fi nd missing children.” The UAV has a wide range of features that can be useful in fi nding missing persons or criminals on the run from police. The quad-copter is equipped with a 1080p high-defi nition 12 megapixel camera. The image from the camera can be broadcasted directly to the user’s smartphone through a downloadable app so the operator can see exactly what the UAV is pointed at. The user can also take photos and video of the quadcopter’s flight with their smartphone. The device has the ability to fly just above RIDGEWOOD TIMES/Photo by Anthony Giudice a mile in any direction before losing connection to the remote. Pearson said that this specific model has safety limits built into it, restricting the UAV to only 400 feet, in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidelines. “In residential areas, like this one, you have to be aware of power lines,” Pearson said. “You always have to fly above the power lines. Putting it up high is not really useful to us, as you can’t see much on the ground from higher distances.” Another handy feature RIDGEWOOD TIMES/Photo by Anthony Giudice Mark Pearson, the new president of the 104 Civilian Observation Patrol (104COP). TIMES NEWSWEEKLY (USPS 465-940) is published weekly by Schneps NY Media LLC, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. Periodicals postage paid at Flushing, NY. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Times Newsweekly/Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. of the quad-copter is the home point feature, which allows the device to automatically return to the point of takeoff if it flies out of the user’s line of sight, loses signal with the remote or has a low battery, or if the user manually requests it to return. “We’ve been practicing with it to really see how it works,” Pearson said. “We are going to train at least two more people to be able to use it.” Pearson admitted that there were some concerns over the reaction the quad-copter would receive due to people’s predispositions regarding this new type of technology. “We were a little uneasy about the reaction we would get,” Pearson said. “We want to see how well this gets adopted. We got a good reaction from the commanding offi cer of the 104th Precinct.” Meet 104COP’s new president, Mark Pearson BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport After Frank Kotnik stepped down as president of the 104th Precinct Civilian Observation Patrol (104COP) last month, the organization needed a leader to continue Kotnik’s work and to help 104COP grow. Enter Mark Pearson. Last year, he was the fi rst vice president of 104COP under Kotnik. In that role, Pearson learned from Kotnik and gained the experience necessary to perform the duties of president of 104COP. “He has done a wonderful job and those are some very tough shoes to fi ll there,” Pearson said of Kotnik. Pearson grew up in Long Island and moved to Glendale in 1998. He joined 104COP in August 2012 after seeing a poster inviting community members to join the organization. “So I started in August 2012 and two months later Hurricane Sandy hit and I was just hooked,” Pearson said. “I saw that I could really make a difference, even on the patrols. Even though the patrols aren’t extremely exciting like trying to help out people after hurricanes, but knowing that there’s people out there driving around looking for anybody that’s doing something they shouldn’t be doing, keeping an eye out and reporting things back to the police.” Pearson has used his experience as assistant IT director for the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) to help 104COP grow its online presence. His background in technology has allowed Pearson to redo the 104COP website and get the organization more involved on Facebook and Twitter, a main way to stay in touch with the community, Pearson said. “One of my goals is to really gain a lot more exposure for 104COP,” Pearson said. “People need to know about us. That’s the idea, is to try to get the word out there about who we are and what we do, and along with that hopefully more volunteers will join.” As president Pearson hopes to receive more funding from local politicians to help 104COP expand its programs and, in turn, its membership. Pearson said 104COP currently has 60 members, and he wants to see that number grow to 100. “I want to get additional training for our members. I want to offer some sort of training back to the community,” Pearson said. “There is a gap between the community and the police. We’re trying to be a fi ller of that gap. Some people are fi ne with the police. Some people don’t like the police. We want to try to explain and show that everyone can work together for a common goal of keeping our community safe while keeping our quality of life as high as it can be.” 104COP introduces... Brand-new quad-copter to the squad
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