In late May, the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona used a UAS to search for a man who went missing in the woods near Clay Springs, Arizona.

It was the first time that the sheriff’s deputies used a UAS during a search and rescue operation.

Deputies requested the help of NCSO’s UAS for the search, and within 45 minutes of arriving on the scene, the UAS pilots located the man, about “a quarter of a mile east and 350 yards north” of where his motorcycle had been found earlier.

The man was described as “disoriented and dehydrated ” when found, but in good health.

Through an article with White Mountain Independent, Jim Molesa, chief deputy of NCSO, highlighted the effectiveness of UAS by saying, “the ability to use this tool for search and rescue saves lives and hours of man power.”

Sheriff K.C. Clark went a step further in his praise for the technology by saying, “the application of UAVs will revolution(ize) law enforcement as the two-way radio and computer did.”