SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, Calif. — The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office launched its new underwater drone robot Tuesday to start finding and removing more cars from the delta.
In July, ABC10 told you about underwater junkyards, where cars were dumped across the delta, and what the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office was doing to remove them, solve crimes and bring closure to the families of missing people.
Three months later, the new technology is helping the sheriff's office keep their commitment to the community. It's an underwater robot is called SARS, or Search and Rescue. It’s controlled by an X-box controller, with buttons specially programed to the robot, which was described as an underwater drone.
Deputies use it to search for people and vehicles under the surface of waterways like the delta. They use sonar to find the car, and then a high definition camera reveals a clear picture.
It’s even equipped with a claw to pull off license plates or to grab a person and help guide them out a sunken car.
San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Deputy John Canepa has been with the boating unit for five years and is the pilot of the new device.
“We are proactively going out and checking and searching for vehicles in the water not just when people call or there is an accident,” said Canepa.
Canepa said the new robot allows them to respond faster to calls. Before, they would have to call for technology or a dive team from another sheriff’s office. Now they can figure out if it’s car and if the car is stolen or belongs to a missing person. After that point, they ask the dive team for assistance.
In the long run, it saves time, money and manpower with one goal in mind, closure for those who lost someone or lost their car — bringing justice to the family.
On Tuesday in Lodi, five cars were found in a 20-yard stretch of Guard Road and in the stretch of water called White Slough.
However, deputies also hope to solve the bigger issue of why so many cars are being dumped in the delta in the first place, and if they are connected to any crimes.
“The vehicles are being dumped in secluded area. Once we get more information and once we start pulling more of these vehicles out, hopefully we start to see a trend, and hopefully we have a better answer for you,” said Canepa.
While the robot will give them a faster response, deputies will still work with partner agencies and the dive teams when needed. They are thankful the community continues to call in tips.
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