sUAS Division
At the beginning of 2017 the Noble County Sheriff Department established a Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) Division. Noble County was one of the first departments in the state to do so. The sUAS Division currently consists of a five-man team operating a variety of sUAS, more commonly referred to as “drones.” Noble County currently has 4 quadcopters of varying design and capabilities. One of the drone’s is equipped with a Forward-Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) camera capable of night vision and is also able to pick up heat signatures during the day and night. The division is led by Deputy Shafter Baker who is the primary pilot. On call deputies have access to the drones at all times, and are FAA licensed remote pilots.
sUAS Deployments
The sUAS division is used for many different details. The primary purpose is for search and rescue missions. Searches that used to take hours have been cut down to minutes in most cases. A large area that once required a lot of manpower to cover can now be done much faster and with fewer people. The sUAS Division has had multiple successful missions in which missing juveniles, adults and fleeing suspects have all been located with only a few minutes of becoming airborne. Other uses have included active shooter responses, photographic documentation of crash scenes, crime scenes, and search warrant services. The limitations do not end there though as we continue to discover new ways to use the technology. As the Sheriff once said, “the sky’s the limit” with what drones can do in assisting law enforcement and the community.
sUAS Division Publicity
Noble County’s sUAS division does public demonstrations for organizations such as schools, charities and community events. Also, being one of the pioneers for law enforcement in the sUAS arena has led to numerous news media stories featuring the NCSD in both television and print. Our successful missions have been featured in local papers, local television news, the Indy Star newspaper, and even nationally on USA Today’s website.