ELK GROVE, Calif. — Elk Grove Police Chief Timothy Albright went on the record with ABC10 about the police department using drones during this pandemic.
"The First Amendment still applies. Your home is your castle, and the last thing we want to do is infringe upon those rights," Chief Albright said.
The chief shared their drone flight log with ABC10. It shows when, where, and how the drone was used. In the last month, the drone helped track and capture wanted suspects twice. It's also helped with the search of a missing person.
In addition to new police patrols of businesses now closed because of the stay-at-home order, the chief said they've also launched an operations center that is staffed in 12-hour shifts.
"What the drones allow us to do is to really use those two technology elements to really be more responsive, more reactive, more timely," Chief Albright said.
Roseville Police said they found a suspect trying to break into an optometry business through the roof thanks to their drone. Sacramento police are rolling out a fleet of tiny micro-drones outfitted with cameras. The micro-drones can fly indoors and give officers a real-time view of a location. They are meant to make things safer for officers and the suspects they are trying to apprehend.
"The technology is evolving before our eyes," Chief Albright said. "Only six months ago those tiny micro-drones were unavailable or certainly unavailable at the price point we would need them to be."
As departments across the area roll out new technology to keep us all safe during the pandemic, the question still remains: How much longer will all have to stay inside?
"I recognize that people are anxious. I recognize that people are restless," Chief Albright said. "That's not lost on me or my staff. Our goal will be to find a way to get through the next two to three weeks, and that's the next stage of the move toward opening."
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