New drone video shows Montgomery County police fighting crime in real time
SILVER SPRING, Md. - A drone recently helped police officers catch thieves accused of stealing items from a Silver Spring Safeway.
FOX 5 reported on the Montgomery County Police Department's Drone as First Responder program back in September.
Nowadays, more and more companies and agencies are using drones, including FOX 5.
MCPD is now sharing more information on how the program has been helping them fight crime since its inception.
The department says that its drone, a.k.a. Raven 1, helped them respond to more than 150 calls just within Downtown Silver Spring between November and December.
Featured
Montgomery County Police Chief says drone program would get police on scene faster than ever
Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said the department is considering a program that would dispatch drones to 911 calls and crimes in progress.
In fact, around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday FOX 5 spotted a drone just hanging in the air — in what seemed like a ready position — near the area of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road. Some people we spoke with said while this is great technology, they hope it doesn’t replace police manpower.
The Raven 1 drone camera was the only witness to a theft and assault at a grocery store in downtown Silver Spring back on November 30.
The real-time technology helped Montgomery County Police officers locate and arrest two aggressive shoplifters whom the drone caught running out of the store with stolen things.
"We are seeing improved response times being able to get to the scene of an emergency first before officers are on the ground," said Captain Jason Cokinos, director of operations with the Montgomery County Police Department.
The department says Raven 1, on several occasions, provided responding officers with critical, otherwise unobtainable information.
"For Downtown Silver Spring since mid-November through the end of December, we responded to one hundred and fifty-nine 911 calls with the drone, and we were on the scene first for 121 of those before the officers were able to arrive. So we are averaging 120 or so," Captain Cokinos explained.
The department has one other unmanned aircraft.
They say the two drones are a way for them to deal with the current shortage of officers.
"I guess it’s a good way to augment the police," said Perry Schwartz who lives in Downtown Silver Spring. "I think If they had the manpower, then it would be better to have police on the scene here on a regular basis."
When news breaks, stream FOX 5 DC anytime. Get the FOX Local app on your smart TV.
"Sadly you can’t get ahead of it. They can just try to catch up with it, but as long as everything is viewed and they see what’s happening, then do good investigative work it should work," added Luis Woods, another Downtown Silver Spring resident.
An MCPD spokesperson said the department is looking to go live at their second site, which would be in Wheaton, and that could happen within the next week. They are also looking to expand the program into Gaithersburg and Bethesda, but only based on public feedback.
Check out Raven 1 in action below: