After purchasing a UAS from Atlanta-based Sky Fire Consulting in April 2017, the Georgetown Police Department (GPD) in Georgetown, Kentucky has found a number of unique use cases for its UAS.

​Among those use cases, the UAS has been especially helpful in tracking lost citizens and locating fleeing suspects and stolen vehicles.

The UAS, which shows streets using satellite maps, and is equipped with a camera, was purchased after a large number of vehicle break-ins were being reported. Thus far, it has helped the department detect suspects involved in the crimes.

Additionally, GPD offers assistance to other departments that need to use the technology, as was the case during the most recent use of the UAS on August 7 when the Cynthiana Police Department in Cynthiana, Kentucky requested GPD’s UAS to help locate a grandmother, her dog and her grandson who got lost in a Harrison County field.

After getting lost in the field, the grandmother called Harrison County Emergency Response, and the UAS located the family in less than 15 minutes.

“We located them well before the battery had exhausted,” says Georgetown Police Lt. Phillip Halley via the Georgetown News-Graphic. “She told dispatch she could see the aircraft from her vantage point.”

Another use case for GPD's UAS involved using the UAS after a train derailment in March. The UAS was used to look at tanker cars, and GPD used video from the UAS to determine that no cars with harmful chemicals had ruptured.

Additionally, the drone’s FLIR camera was used at night and a visual day time camera was used to take videos and pictures for the HAZMAT Unit for the railroad so that they could piece the collision back together.
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​For Georgetown police officer Tommy Enricco, this technology is extremely beneficial.

“New technology equals new tools and it is always beneficial to have something like this and have an aerial view,” says Enricco, who has used the UAS to assist in patrolling and search and rescue.