Webster County Sheriff’s Office uses new drone to find juvenile
WEBSTER COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Law enforcement agencies are always looking for an edge when it comes to protecting and serving the public. And for many, that means keeping up with technology.
A high-tech tool proved its worth recently in Webster County, when the Sheriff’s Office was leading the search for a missing child.
April 20, a Monday night, was anything but typical for the Webster County Sheriff’s Office.
A 12-year-old was reported missing, and deputies had to mobilize all of their available resources for the search.
That included a new drone that the department recently acquired. It made all the difference.
“The pilot pretty much located the boy, and it was extremely thick woods across from his home,” Webster County Sheriff’s Department Undersheriff Tim Roberson said. “It’s just amazing, and to God be the Glory, but we found him just very quickly, so another example of the benefits of this drone.”
A grant from the 4 County Foundation paid for the DJI Matric T 30 drone, and it’s proving to be a sound investment.
Undersheriff Tim Roberson said they are still learning how to use the technology, and he didn’t know it would turn out to be this useful.
“I didn’t know it could do something like that,” Roberson said. “But I am so pleased, and we are learning new stuff every day. This particular boy was out on 269 Palmer Road, and we got within a few minutes and within an hour we found him, and he was with the EMS very quickly after we got there”.
Now that they know what it can do, they expect to find more uses for the drone.
And that has them looking at other ways to employ technology in the field and in their new jail.
