Crestview Police drone gives law enforcement a new view (VIDEO)

CRESTVIEW — When a man wanted on an outstanding warrant from Walton County fled a Crestview Police officer, it took multiple officers converging from different directions to pursue the suspect over a several-block area before he was caught while hiding under debris in a resident's back yard.

With the department's newest crime-fighting tool, the chase could have been shortened and fewer resources might have been expended in the pursuit, which itself could have been shortened.

The agency acquired a DJI Inspire IV2 drone with the city's current fiscal year [funds] and contracted with Crestview-based Advance Aerial Operations to provide certification instruction, which includes classroom training, a written test and flight training.

The drone's designated operators, Cmdr. Jamie Grant and Investigator Shawn Temple, like all unmanned aerial aircraft pilots, must be licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration before they can fly the machine.

On Feb. 16, under Advanced Aerial owner Mario Werth's supervision, the officers flew the CPD drone for the first time, with an audience including Chief Tony Taylor, senior chaplain the Rev. Mark Broadhead, training officer Cmdr. Andrew Schneider, and Critical Systems Manager Kathy Duke observing.

From its launch in Spanish Trail Park, Grant and Temple practiced flying the drone over the park and to the intersection of State Road 85 and Stillwell Boulevard, trying different altitudes and trajectories. Observers on the ground took turns seeing a drone's eye view of the test flight through a pair of high-definition goggles, which provide a detailed view that Werth likened to that of a 4K resolution TV.

But residents needn't fear the police will come snooping in their back yards.

"Like any investigation when we have probable-cause, we have to get a search warrant to fly over somebody's property and take a look with the drone," Temple said.

However, the nearly $4,000 aircraft and its equipment does have multiple law enforcement applications that don't require waking up a judge in the wee hours of the morning.

"We can manage traffic accident scenes much more effectively with it," Grant said.

Taylor said in such emergencies, like the fuel tanker truck that flipped over a few years ago, snarling traffic at the intersection of S.R. 85 and Interstate 10 for several hours, the drone can provide police with a clearer picture of the scene than that obtainable from a sometimes hectic ground perspective.

"We can get an immediate overview of the scene and better direct resources, including those of our partner agencies, like the Fire Department and EMS," Taylor said.

With a chemical sensor—attached to the drone's body by a custom designed mount that Werth 3-D-printed—the drone can be flown into hazardous fume zones, such as a train derailment involving toxic chemicals, that could prove harmful or deadly to officers.

"Situations in which we search for people like missing children or Alzheimer's patients are another use," Special Operations Cmdr. Andrew Schneider said.

And, in the case of the January incident, rather than have multiple officers driving around several streets as they tried to box in a fleeing suspect, the drone could've followed him from the air while its operator directs police to the exact right location.

"It's got a lot of applications," Temple said. "We're just learning some of them now. The more we use it, the more we'll discover what it can do."