A look into how drone teams help law enforcement

Last weekend, three men were arrested after gunshots were reported in Cedar Park. We're now getting a closer look at the drone team, which made the arrest possible. Fox seven. Austin's Marco Bittner joining us live in studio with a closer look at the Williamson County drone team, Marco. Well, we're seeing drones being used more across all walks of life. That's no different in law enforcement. The Wicco Sheriff's Office tells us that their drones were sent on flights around once per day, assisting in operations while helping to keep officers out of danger. Fireworks sounding off on the 4th of July. But in Cedar Park, they were mixed with gunshots. That's something that you wanna that you want to resolve as fast as possible. Just after midnight, officers are rushing to the scene. But in the dark, finding the suspects would be easier said than done. You're walking around and you're blind until you actually see them and they may see them before you see them. But it wouldn't be impossible. And the biggest help would come in the form of a drone from the Williamson County Sheriff's Office. The pilot on that incident actually was able to use thermal imaging to detect those suspects and locate them. And he actually was able to give them commands over the P. A. System to get them to surrender to the officers that were closing in on three suspects would surrender and in their possession. Seven firearms could be seized, including two illegal Glock switches. It was one of the latest cases in which drones have been used as a difference maker. There's probably a drone flight by one of our pilots. Uh, I mean, at least once a day, the Williamson County drone team has been in service for around five years now has grown to a 12 pilot team as the years have progressed. So have the drones. Since then, the technology is greatly improved and we're able to do a lot more things than we could then estimated at around $15,000. The department's drones are equipped with thermal imaging P. A. Systems and state of the art cameras. They're used in calls all over the county from helping to assess the damage of traffic accidents to finding someone in a search and rescue operation to some of the most dangerous situations, such as a police standoff. We can actually fly drone into the residents to, uh, either see where the suspect is or if they're injured or anything like that, uh, to reduce the risk to the officers. The drones are so nimble they can be used to clear rooms before an officer even has to step foot in the building. We can check and add it. We can check closets. We can check bedrooms. If there is someone in there, we know where they are so we can go straight to them. And Detective McKinney says that the demand for drones has grown so much. They try to have a pilot on call every patrol shift, often coordinating with other agencies to make sure that at a moment's notice they can have eyes in the skies. Williamson County drone team tries to have a pilot on every single one of its patrol shifts. And Detective McKinney tells us that when they opened applications last year to become a drone operator, they received more applications than they had ever received before. Reporting in studio, Marco Bittner, Fox seven Austin News.