Richland Police Drone Program is Flying High

The Richland Police Department’s Drone Program is seeing results after its first year of service.  

Last year, The Richland Police debuted their unmanned Drone Program to help assist them in crime detection, prevention, and investigation. According to the department, the Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems” or Drone Program has provided additional officer safety while on calls and accurate surveillance.  

On a social media post, Richland Police shares a few successful instances where the drone has come in handy in their operations. 

• A New Year’s Eve homicide investigation in which the drone provided aerial tracking during the response and used its thermal camera. 
• A January 2023 homicide investigation in which it was used as a part of the Major Incident Response Team to photograph and create a drone map and photography of the area (PIX4D) of the crime scene.
• A burglary in progress in which a drone was used in support of responding officers to locate the suspect. It found the suspect hiding, and they were arrested safely.
• A missing child investigation in which the drone was used in search of the child. 
•  A SWAT operation for a search warrant.
• A vehicle versus pedestrian fatal collision in which it was used after the crash a picture and map of the scene. 

The drone program is the latest instance of local police departments using technology to help prevent and fight crime.