San Marcos police show off drone program, explain how it caught car theft suspects

San Marcos police show off drone program

San Marcos police say their drone program helps with a lot of things like missing persons searches, finding suspects, SWAT calls, and crime scene reconstruction.

SAN MARCOS, Texas - San Marcos police showed off its drone program, and how it was used to catch car theft suspects last week.

Officers say their drone program helps with a lot of things like missing persons searches, finding suspects, SWAT calls, and crime scene reconstruction.

Last week, San Marcos police say they were called to help Hays County find four teens who jumped out of stolen car, and ran off.

"I arrived with our brand-new drone...put it up, did a quick overview of the area and immediately noticed some heat signatures, this was at night," Sgt. Matthew Daenzer, drone operations manager, said. "They were laying down under some tree cover, so partially obscured but still able to pick that up."

Eventually, two of them were arrested. Officers say drones help with safety and time.

"We can cover so much more ground in the air than we can on foot, and then manpower resources we don't have to use those officers to do those grid searches, so if you're doing a grid search or a line search, depending on your size, you're looking at five or more officers to conduct a proper grid search or line search. With a drone we can do that in minutes," Daenzer said.

While it is hot out, and a lot of surfaces retain heat, officers say it's easy to detect humans with the drone camera.

San Marcos police looking for driver in deadly hit and run

Police say a pedestrian was struck was by two separate vehicles, and neither driver stopped to render aid. The pedestrian died at the scene.

The department has six smaller drones and five bigger ones. The bigger ones do thermal imaging.

Before they take off, officers have to check the weather and airspace, but can usually get approved to fly in seconds.

Police say they deploy drones about once a week, and they're mostly used for SWAT call outs.

"I think it's an incredible relief. 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," Cpl. Joseph Osborne, drone team assistant team lead, said.

Police say the drone program has been around for several years, and they hope to grow it to have a dedicated drone team. Right now, nine officers are on it part-time.