A police department in Maryland is expanding a drone program used to respond to 911 calls instead of sending officers to the scene. The Montgomery County Department of Police started a drone response program in November 2023 in Silver Spring. Police statistics show the drone has an average resonse time of around a minute to get to the crime scene. The program expanded to the Wheaton area in January 2024 and now that they have responded to more than 1,000 calls, the sheriff plans to further expand it. The Drone as First Responder Program is designed to help officers with response times, decisio…