Ohio Drone Repair assists safety forces both state and nationwide

by Wendy Turrell

Roger Mortimer and his Ohio Drone Repair and Services Company provide indispensable aid to police, fire and safety services in Bath, Richfield, and far beyond.

After graduating from Revere High School in 2019, Mortimer began to attend a community college to study mechanical engineering. “However, I quickly realized that traditional education was not the right path for me,” he recalled. “The first test I truly cared about and dedicated myself to studying for was the FAA Part 107 Commercial Drone Pilot’s License.”

Mortimer bought Ohio Drone Repair from Dana Clarke in 2021. He had learned to repair drones working for Clarke and other drone repair companies. Mortimer earned his FAA Commercial Drone Pilot’s license and had garnered experience flying drones for real estate companies and collecting 3D modeling data for national cell towers.

“At the time,” Mortimer said, “I had heard about drones being used by law enforcement, but I didn’t fully understand the impact.”

Then the regional METRO swat team brought one of their drones in for repair. After completing the repair the same day, Mortimer was invited to one of METRO’s training sessions – his first exposure to how law enforcement uses drones.

By summer 2022, ODR was not just selling and servicing drones, but also providing training, setup and support to public safety departments. Mortimer sold a new drone to the Macedonia Fire Department, and he began building a relationship with Assistant Fire Chief Paul Celinski.

In February 2023, Mortimer took part in his first live operation when Macedonia’s drone team asked him to help locate a missing person. Afterwards, Celinski asked ODR and Kinetic Drone Solutions to jointly conduct the first cross-agency drone training in Summit County to address departmental coordination challenges the incident had presented.

Just two days after that training, Mortimer was contacted to locate a missing kayaker in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It was a night operation, with eight or nine agencies taking part, most of which were fresh from drone training.

“We covered 22 miles of river in three hours. It was a proud moment, watching these departments come together and apply the skills they had just learned,” said Mortimer. “One of the fire chiefs remarked how drones drastically improved efficiency, as traditional search methods could have taken days to cover the same area.”

The search was successful but the kayaker was unfortunately found deceased.

Since then, ODR has trained or assisted over 300 agencies across Ohio, and more than 500 nationwide. These include police and fire departments, national park systems, regional enforcement teams, as well as the Ohio State Highway Patrol, which uses drones for crash investigations and special response teams.

ODR trains safety forces at its facility on Cleveland-Massillon Road in Bath, or at the contracting agency’s headquarters. Mortimer said, “Modern drones are relatively easy to fly; when you release the controls, they hover in place. The real challenge comes with flying smoothly for video or mastering the drone camera’s settings.”

ODR offers several classes, including a two-day preparation class before taking the FAA Part 107 drone pilot’s test. The company sells large drone models fit for agricultural use all the way to small models that fit in a hand. Small tactical drones can fly indoors or navigate through forest canopy.

Drones commonly used for search and rescue missions have multi-sensor cameras for thermal detection, zoom and wide-angle lenses. Sometimes a laser rangefinder or night vision camera is used for water-based rescues. Mortimer said ODR can also add attachments like speakers and spotlights.

Drone-assisted safety missions cover more than just search and rescue or manhunt operations. Drones are used in Hazmat conditions, in places too confined for a human or dog to search, crime and crash scene reconstructions, evidence collection and even as first responders.

Bath Police Chief Vito Sinopoli said his department has worked with Ohio Drone Repair since 2022, when the department acquired its first two drones and received a donation for a third.

Sinopoli said Bath has eight certified commercial drone pilots in the fire and police departments, including himself. He praised ODR’s participation in several local operations, including the 2023 missing kayaker incident and a search for a suspect wanted on multiple felony charges.

“Roger Mortimer and his company Ohio Drone Repair have been an invaluable resource for support and service for our drone program, and we appreciate their commitment to the community,” Sinopoli said.

Mortimer and his high-tech drone team recently took on a life-saving search and rescue operation in Tennessee for a husband and wife, ages 73 and 74, who were missing after their all-terrain vehicle broke down on the top of a mountain. After three days of fruitless searching, a friend involved in the search called Mortimer to see if he could help. Mortimer and his team drove all night and arrived at 5 a.m. the next day, with two vehicles loaded with specialty drones and equipment.

Mortimer used drones to fly under the thick tree cover, in tandem with ground teams with dogs. The husband was found about 300 feet down the mountain. Mortimer and co-worker Chase McIntyre, Revere class of 2020, were among the first to reach him. The man said he left his wife at the bottom of the canyon near the stream, while he tried to climb out for help. Before the search drone could be re-employed to look for her, Mortimer got a call that the wife had been found about half a mile away.

“We used drones to provide overwatch and live-streamed the husband’s evacuation to the command post, allowing the team to make better decisions and provide updates to the family,” said Mortimer.

The wife had suffered a dislocated hip. This evacuation required a Black Hawk helicopter team, which rappelled two soldiers down in a basket to bring her out. Both husband and wife were back home safe the next day, Mortimer said.

“This mission taught us valuable lessons in overcoming obstacles and thinking creatively to operate drones,” he said. “It also highlighted how the role of drones can shift during a mission – from search to overwatch – once critical milestones are reached.”

Mortimer finding his passion in drone flight has led to a growing number of safety forces properly trained in drone operation and life-saving services for those in distress.

“All of the operations I’ve been part of have been purely voluntary. It’s my way of giving back to the communities I’ve grown up in and supporting those who keep them safe,” he said. ∞