OLDS — Drones are helping Olds RCMP do their work, assisting in everything from catching offenders to search and rescue missions, says detachment commander Staff Sgt. Warren Wright.
Wright talked about the technology's use during a recent town council meeting.
Coun. Dan Daley noted the use of the drones was outlined in a preamble to the detachment’s third quarter report.
He wondered how it applies to the Olds detachment.
Wright said the detachment does have access to a drone when needed, but does not have any drones itself.
The preamble suggested they could even be of use during active shooter situations.
“The drone itself is of great assistance in terms of dealing with high-risk situations,” Wright said.
“I'm not saying that we have a lot of them within the town of Olds, but they do happen – rarely.
“And when that does happen, we're able to bring in a drone and be able to survey the area up from above and locate maybe the offending party and safely apprehend them.
“They’re also of great assistance in terms of search and rescue. You have a lost child, and we're able to put the drone in the air and they can cover a lot more ground more quickly than we can.
“In terms of search, if we're doing a searchable location in Olds pursuant to a warrant, it's also great assistance. (We can) put the drone in the air to have an aerial survey of the place that we're going to in case we have any surprises and we're able to safely map out a plan to enter the property to what we need to do.
“So we're using technology to the best of our advantage.”
Wright said drones can also be useful for things like traffic collisions.
“It's a new tool in our toolbox," he said.
