Pulaski County Sheriff's drones help locate missing teen in Starke County
PULASKI COUNTY, Ind. -- On Saturday, the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office used its drones to find a teen after he went missing in Starke County in the early morning hours. According to the department’s Facebook post, the teen was taken in for treatment at a local hospital.
According to the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, multiple agencies were trying to locate the missing teen Saturday morning-- and 4-5 other agencies responded with their resources.
Detective Sergeant Matt Pickens with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office actually found the missing 15-year-old using the drone in Starke County on Saturday. When the drone is needed, Pickens says dispatch calls them-- and then they connect with people on scene and gather information.
Pickens was using the drone's thermal technology and says the teen had been running from police and had taken his sweater off, so his body heat was exposed.
“I asked which direction. I always start where they last saw him, and then I'll start to circle out and zoom from that area. I normally run thermal first to check for hot spots. Once I see something that's hot, I'll fly closer to it, and then I'll use the visual camera and see what it is,” said Pickens.
Pickens says he found the 15-year-old within 15 minutes from the time they arrived and directed officers to him.
“Originally, he exited the cornfield, started walking along a grass path. I sent the officers down towards the grass path. When the juvenile saw the officer driving there, he dipped into the cornfield again. As the officer passed, he tried to circle back out. I radioed to the officer on scene. said, ‘Hey, he's exiting behind you.’ And then they ended up taking him into custody,” said Pickens.
The Knox Police Department, which also responded, tells ABC57 they do not know if the teen is out of the hospital.
The Pulaski County Sheriff’s office tells ABC57 they have used this technology for about five years, and they have five drones in a variety of sizes.
The drones can see during the day and night and can scan a large area quickly.
Pulaski County Sheriff Chris Schramm says this is a very valuable technology that’s used often by their department. Sheriff Schramm says when someone in another county or area needs help, they help them, too.
He says they once sent a drone into a house to locate a barricaded suspect to tell officers where he was.
“It's a human life, you know. He's able to tell the officers where he was. I can't put a price on that. And like I said earlier, the price of a child or a missing person, you can't put a price on that. You know, these guys do surveillance. They take photographs, they do accident scenes. Whenever they go serve a warrant, they'll they'll put a drone up and see what vehicles are there, if there's somebody outside, the possibilities are endless here,” said Schramm.
He says drones can respond really quickly. He says in the past, agencies may have had to wait for a plane or a helicopter. He says that operators will keep drones with them and work together on calls, and can show what they’re seeing on large screens so other law enforcement can see what the drones are seeing.