MIAMI TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Police said drones are making the community and officers safer in Miami Township.
Chief Mike Mills said they’ve only been using drones for about six months, but it's already taken their capabilities to another level.
"The drone is a game changer," Mills said. "I've been in law enforcement for just over 30 years and this last six months is completely different than the first 30 years, just because of the capabilities and the quick movement of these drones."
Drones allow the department to search a large area very quickly. One officer said it could cover an area that would take 20 officers to cover in just minutes.
"If we had a missing child, I’m pretty confident we would find that child very quickly," Mills said.
Mills said the drones have helped police search for missing people and locate armed and dangerous suspects.
"I would say somewhere about 12 to 14 times," Mills said. "And every time I would consider a success either because they located someone that we're looking for or they eliminated an area that we could refocus our efforts."
He said it’s also been a game-changer for officer safety.
"We were able to fly that drone out from overhead and then get low and look inside to see if there was someone inside versus having officers blindly approach that with no cover-up in the middle of a field," Mills said.
Matt Evans is a drone pilot for Miami Township.
"Basically, it's like a tablet, has the controller built in so it's like a one-stop solution," he said.
The drones use thermal imaging to find people in the dark.
"They're amazing," said Evans. "It makes me wonder in another 20 years where technology's gonna be for all of law enforcement."
