CONWAY, Ark. (KTHV) -- The Conway Police Department has added a drone to their fleet.
“It's another tool for fighting crime, investigating cases, working accident scenes,” said Detective Thomas Cole.
Cole said traffic accidents now take 30 minutes to work versus before when they took anywhere from three to five hours.
“We get a full picture of the scene, we've also got software that lets us render a 3D image of the entire scene,” he said.
The drone helps with SWAT call outs, letting officers know where to position themselves. In high risk situations, the drone can be sent in first to get a better look.
“We can take the drone in and get aerial photography, video, and map the scene out which will also helps with juries to give them an idea of what we're looking at,” he said.
The drone can fly up to 400 feet in the air and travels about a mile radius, giving officers a bird's eye view and a better perspective of a scene.
The new technology also uses GPS to give the department exact locations and measurements.
Detective Joshua Fulbright said they can play a live feed from the drone.
“This is our television that we connect to our drone remotes. If we have someone that’s missing, or runs from us, we can look at the tv and help each other out spotting stuff,” he said.
Fulbright and Cole said it helps them cover more ground and it's a huge asset to their police department.
“If you're driving down the street you get a street view, you can't get up over houses or in backyards by foot,” Fulbright said.
“Now we're able to do it more safely and more efficiently and we don't have to have people out or shut down the road for five hours, we can send the drone out and be done quickly,” Cole said.
The department said they have had some concerns from people about their privacy but say the public has nothing to be concerned about. They typically don't use the drones in residential areas, unless it's absolutely necessary.