BEATRICE – They’re being used with more frequency for various purposes, and the City of Beatrice will now have a formal policy on them…the utilization of drones.


"We use them to fly over flood areas and observe the damage. We've used them to look at construction projects, as you've seen if you look at our Facebook page. Or, you can use them to look at power lines and do some inspections up there rather than having a guy climb a pole...it's obviously much safer to do it this way."


City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer says the city’s electric department and fire and rescue department each have a drone.


Under the new policy, the operation of them will comply with Federal Aviation Administration rules and operators must have a remote pilot certificate.