San Marcos, Texas just joined the growing list of police departments nationwide – about 1,600 total, or 10% – that are deploying drones to pursue fleeing criminal suspects or to search for lost and missing persons – and with mounting success.

Last week, the SMPD launched a drone after four suspects fled a stolen vehicle on foot and sought to escape capture. Flying overhead to provide situational awareness to officers on the ground, the drone was able to relay real-time information on the suspects’ movements and the officers quickly moved in to make the arrest.  The entire operation was completed in less than two minutes, SMPD officials said.

It was the first successful operation for the SMPD but not for the Hays County Sheriff’s Office that requested the department’s assistance.  The Sheriff’s Office has supported its own 15-man drone team since 2021 and has flown over 2,100 missions. including search-and-rescue and tactical support to SWAT,  in addition to criminal pursuit operations.  The Office swears by its drones.

Patrol sergeant Kelly Woodard, who helps direct the Office’s drone team, says the team operates under specific rules of engagement.  Their drones don’t collect routine surveillance or use facial imaging technology, for example.  And while their drones can fly over people and over night, as needed, they still need a search warrant for drone operations over private property.   “We’re just not going to fly over somebody’s house,” he said..

Woodard added that drones are especially useful during the hot summer months when ground support teams often get overheated and need to slow or cease their operations, reducing their chances of success.   With drones, “you don’t have your searchers falling out from the heat,” he noted.  “You cover more ground a lot quicker,” and can direct ground teams to move in when suspects or missing persons are located.

At night, with high-powered thermal imaging technology, persons of interest that might otherwise escape detection can be found based on their heat signature alone, Woodard added.

Currently, the SMPD can deploy eleven drones, including five larger drones that can perform thermal imaging detection.  SMPD officials hope that their recent success will help convince the city to fund a full-time drone team.  Presently,, 9 SMPD officers are deployed to support drone operations part-time, and only as the need arises.

With a full-time team, the department could expand the scope of its missions to include routine crime scene analysis, fire-fighting, hazardous waste control and humanitarian disaster support, among other activities, officials say.

More drones will also allow the SMPD  to replace its aging helicopter fleet, reducing fuel and maintenance costs and enhancing sustainability.  And drones are also critical life savers.  Typically, they arrive on a dangerous scene first, and can assess the location and number of suspects involved – and whether they’re armed.  Their presence is intimidating and can provide a critical tactical advantage that can deter hostile encounters, while keeping officers out of harm’s way.

This is especially useful in SWAT scenarios, Cpl. Joseph Osborne, a member of the SMPD drone team, told KXAN TV last week.

“Anytime we step foot inside a house it’s just a complete unknown, we don’t know what we’re getting into, so if we can put those drones inside first, we get eyes on about 90 percent of the house without anybody needing to step foot inside.  It’s an incredible relief,” Osborne noted.

North Texas police departments have also been expanding their drone operations in recent years.  Arlington, TX recently doubled the size of its drone team to 22.  Dallas, the first large Texas big city to deploy drones, has done the same.  All told, at least four dozen Texas police departments have drone programs, up from two dozen in 2020, according to the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College in New York.

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