THUNDER BAY - City police continue to expand their drone equipment and training.
Acting Sergeant of the Thunder Bay Police Traffic Unit, Tom Armstrong, gave a special tour of the services' latest tools. There are currently three drones that police use and they all have unique purposes.
The largest of the drones is used best in instances of missing people, or tracking known suspects at large as it features a thermal camera. While the second drone was most recently used for by the Traffic Unit for a speeding blitz on Dawson Road of commercial vehicles.
Armstrong told TBnewswatch that the drones are most often used for documenting crime and collision scenes. Trained officers can collect "videos of the scene, and stitch photos together to get one large-scale photo of the area. They [the drones] are an invaluable tool. Helps us collect evidence far better, and makes us far more efficient." It allows officers to process a scene in a fraction of the time, which then can lead to releasing a scene or opening a road more quickly.
The smallest drone of their fleet is mostly used when inside buildings as it can traverse through small spaces easily. Officers at the demonstration showcased this by flying the mini drone through the police vehicle's open windows.
For all three machines, their total cost is over $50,000. While a large piece of that is for the actual units themselves, there is a lot of training and certifications required to fly the drones, especially since they are being used by a police force. Armstrong detailed that there are currently five trained drone pilots at the Service.
The next step for Thunder Bay Police is to expand the number of people who are trained.
