Crystal Police Say Drones Are Successful Crime-Fighting Tools
The Crystal Police Department is one of several in the northwest metro using drones to conduct surveillance and collect evidence. The agency started its drone department in 2020 with six certified FAA pilots. Detective Matthew Wright and Officer Jonathan Wilkes both have their licenses.
“One of the nice things we can use it for is missing persons or fleeing suspects,” said Wilkes.
Crystal police say drone program is a successful crime-fighting tool.
The Crystal Police Department has two drones. A smaller device used indoors and a high-tech version has several features, including two cameras, one with high definition and the other one with thermal capabilities.
“The thermal can do a very good job weeding through things and picking people out,” said Wright.
Police recently used a drone to search for a missing teen.
“With the drone’s help, it was able to reduce how much time we time we spent searching areas,” explained Wright.
Police say the program is successful, cutting down on time and saving lives.
“The fact that we can get this up in the air in a matter of minutes and deployed to start searching can certainly save lives and keep people safer and keep officers safer.
