West Windsor, NJ is a suburb of Princeton with a population of around 30,000. On Saturday, October 30, 1938, the town became famous as a farm in Grover’s Mill, an unincorporated West Windsor community, became the landing site of an alien invasion through the voice of Orson Welles as he narrated H.G. Welles’s 1898 novel, The War of the Worlds. Today, West Windsor is ranked as one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the United States. The community has a close relationship with Princeton University, part of which lies within West Windsor’s borders. The town is also very supportive of the West Windsor Police Department (WWPD), so much so that a community charity recently made a sizeable donation to the WWPD to begin a drone program.

Established by Mayor Hermant Maranthe, West Windsor Gives Back is an organization that raises funds to enhance community life. Each year they pick one local entity to support, and when WWPD Chief Robert Garofalo made it known that the department wanted to establish a drone unit, the charity was happy to support them. In honor of the WWPD’s 50th anniversary in 2018, West Windsor Gives Back funded the department to purchase 5 drones, adding to the 1 already in use. After months of rigorous training, the WWPD began to use the drones to patrol traffic, scope out possible dangerous situations, search and rescue missions, and even aid the surrounding townships. “If it wasn’t for West Windsor Gives Back and the mayor, we wouldn’t have a Drone Unit,” Chief Garofalo said. “With the more-than-80 call-outs we had in the past year, and the number of missing persons calls we’ve gotten, we wouldn’t have found those people without all the donations that our residents made to fund the unit.”

This past week the WWPD had a chance to once again prove how valuable their drone unit was in the rescue of a young man. On the evening of Wednesday, July 22, 2020, Cameron Ward, a 25 year old who studied Financial Math at Georgetown University, left his mother’s home to walk the family’s 3 dogs. It wasn’t long before a neighbor found the dogs wandering alone and returned them home. Worried for her son, Cameron’s mother called the police. She told them that she believed her son had taken the dogs to the nearby dog park but hadn’t been seen for over 3 hours. The police began a search of the West Windsor Community Park, a 123 acre recreational park with trails, a playground, basketball and tennis courts, 2 dog parks, and more amenities to benefit the community.

As the sun was quickly setting, the WWPD had to call off the search for the night. The following day, with help from neighboring Robbinsville Township Police, and Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, WWPD officers, and the K-9 unit began searching the massive park grounds and the areas surrounding Cameron’s home. Unfortunately, the search once again was unsuccessful. On Friday, July 24, 2020, a massive search party was orchestrated to search the park and the community around it. The park was closed off to any public activity to allow search and rescue teams to conduct a thorough investigation. Joining in the search was Patrolman Frank Sabatino of the WWPD drone unit.

At 2:27 in the afternoon, Patrolman Sabatino flew his drone over a secluded area of Grover’s Mill Pond thick with foliage. Through the drone’s camera, Sabatino spotted Cameron and a K-9 unit was quickly dispatched to the location. Cameron, who was found to still be conscious, had been missing for around 45 hours in which he faced extreme heat and heavy thunderstorms. West Windsor Emergency Services Squad 45 brought him to the hospital for evaluation.

Cameron’s condition or how he became stranded has not been released. It is a miracle that he was found, and surely his family is grateful to have him home and safe. The WWPD and assisting rescuers did everything in their power to save this young man. “They never gave up in finding this person,” Chief Garofalo said of those involved in the rescue mission. “Without the teamwork, incredible efforts from numerous agencies, and the usage of the latest technologies, including K-9s and drones, this incident would have had a tragic ending.” It is because of situations like this, ones in which drones help save a life, that Chief Garofalo has been encouraging other police departments in Mercer County to embrace drone technology. So far he has helped 3 other departments pursue their own drone programs and hopes more will soon follow.

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