The Ocean Pines Police Department in Ocean Pines, Maryland is now utilizing UAS to search for missing people.

Just last week, the department used its UAS to help in the search of a missing 79-year-old woman. The department also recently had two separate incidents of missing persons within the same week.

“There’s a large retirement population in Ocean Pines and the police department deals with its share of elderly residents with dementia who walk off and are reported missing,” says Sawyer, marketing and public relations director for the Ocean Pines Association.

“These residents need to be found quickly, which is capable with the help of the new unmanned aircraft system.”

While the department's new UAS has proven beneficial when searching for missing people, the technology has other applications as well, according to Chief Dave Massey.

“Now we also can utilize the technology to locate offenders who decide to flee from the police for criminal offenses,” Massey says.

“The bonus to our community is that through a grant from the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention of Maryland we were able to acquire the drone, it did not cost our residents any additional expense.”

Sawyer notes that the UAS has a transmission system with a 4.3-mile range, five vision sensors, and a 4K camera stabilized by a 3-axis mechanical gimbal.