The combination of drones and thermal imaging cameras has fully enabled many law enforcement agencies to discover the benefits of thermal imaging drones. The search advantages of thermal imaging can allow hidden people to appear in low-light conditions, and the suspects are always monitored within the line of sight.
Here we are going to explain how to use thermal imaging drones to search and arrest suspects hiding in cornfields.
Background
In late summer in the American Midwest, the sun was setting and the corn crop was already 9-12 feet tall. An arson suspect fled the fire he had just started and headed to a nearby cornfield to evade authorities. Tall corn allows suspects to hide out of sight to evade capture.
Tool
- EVO II 640T drone equipped with 640*512@30fps thermal imager
Solution
Police deployed a thermal camera drone, the EVO II 640T Enterprise, to search the cornfields for the suspect's heat signature. Although the search time is at night, the drone 640T Enterprise is also equipped with Loudspeaker, Spotlight, and strobe. These drone accessories provide assistance in quickly searching for suspects.
Using the drone, police are able to identify a suspect's heat signature and send officers on a foot chase, while the drone tracks the suspect's movements and records their general direction.
This thermal camera drone keeps a high-level surveillance of the area to maintain a line of sight for suspects. At the same time, it can also monitor thermal images and provide ground personnel with real-time intelligence on the suspect's direction of travel and any hazards or obstacles that need attention.
Lights on the drone provided overhead lighting to help officers see the suspect's location in the surrounding cornfields as they prepared to arrest the suspect. Once a suspect is apprehended, officers can use the drone as a beacon to guide them away from the scene.
Thus, using the combination of drones, thermal imaging cameras, and lighting technology, law enforcement gains a significant advantage to better hunt down suspects.
