Brandon Karr

Biography

Brandon Karr is an internationally recognized SME for UAS operations for public safety with a specialization in law enforcement and disaster response. Brandon is currently a Drone as First Responder Solutions Engineer for DroneSense. He is from Pearland, Texas and is the former Chief Pilot, UAS Integrations Coordinator, and night shift patrolmen for the Pearland Police Department. Brandon started his interest in aviation in 2006 where he earned his Commercial and Certified Flight Instructor licenses for manned fixed wing single-engine, multi-engine, and instrument ratings. He used his aviation knowledge and experience to start the Pearland Police Department’s UAS program and since has assisted over 600 other agencies start or develop their programs across the nation. He has developed Pearland PD’s UAS program to be integrated into patrol, K9, SWAT, crash reconstruction, and crime scene functions. Brandon also started their Drone as First Responder program and was granted the first completely BVLOS waiver in the nation.

Brandon is the Cofounder of Unmanned Tactical Group and has developed several courses involving utilizing UAS in public safety including Part 107 Ground School, Basic to Advanced Flight Scenarios, Night Operations, Crime and Crash Scene Mapping, and Legal Concerns for UAS.

Brandon is a committee member for Law Enforcement Drone Association, DRONERESPONDERS, and sits on two subcommittees for the State of Texas regarding the implementation of sUAS for major disasters or incidents.

Brandon has been a speaker for major conferences such as Interpol Drone Expert Summit, AUVSI Xponential, Commercial UAV Expo, DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Summit, DJI Airworks, International Emergency Drone Organization, and many other conferences and webinars.

Brandon is also President of the Gulf Coast Regional Public Safety UAS Response Task Force. This regional team is comprised of over 85 agencies with over 500 pilots that are tasked with responding to law enforcement, fire/EMS, or OEM purposes in the event of disasters or major incidents. The regional team has responded to multiple incidents across the state, provides a variety of UAS training to the region, and assists Public Safety agencies develop UAS programs

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