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With Drone, Wheeling Police Have New Eyes in the Sky

photo by: Photo by Eric Ayres

Members of the Wheeling Police Department's new Unmanned Aerial Reconnaissance Team (UART), from left, Officer Brandon Hoehn and Corporal Jason Chambers, conduct a demonstration of its new police drone Thursday at Wheeling Park.

WHEELING — The Wheeling Police Department has a new eye in the sky, and officers are eager to put it to use for the first time during the Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend.

Members of the police department joined city and county leaders Thursday morning for a demonstration by the department’s new police drone unit, dubbed the Unmanned Aerial Reconnaissance Team. Currently the UART is composed of four Wheeling police officers and the department’s crime analyst.

“I haven’t been this excited about a police department acquisition in a long time,” Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger said. “This is something that’s been on our strategic plan for several years. I’m really proud of Cpl. Jason Martin — who led up this program, as he does with several other programs — and the team that has accepted the challenge and is ready to rock and roll.”

Over the course of this past week, the unit spent several hours training with Steel City Drones of Pittsburgh. The instructors offered education on the general functionality of the drone, flying techniques and in-flight emergency situations, and scenario tactical training.

Martin said the entire team will be getting certification to fly a drone. During Thursday’s demonstration, a robbery scenario unfolded, and the drone was deployed where the suspect’s abandoned vehicle was located near the Sonneborn Shelter and Wheeling Park Tennis Courts.

photo by: Photo by Eric Ayres

The Wheeling Police Department's new police drone has multiple cameras, including an infrared camera, that can help officers locate missing persons or fleeing criminal suspects from hundreds of feet in the air. The drone can also maneuver in light rain and reasonably adverse weather conditions, as was the case during Thursday's demonstration at Wheeling Park.

Despite a light rain, the large drone was able to ascend hundreds of feet into the air with an officer piloting with a remote control unit on the ground. Martin led the demonstration from inside the Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency’s mobile Unified Command Center, which housed a big-screen, high-definition monitor displaying views from the drone’s multiple cameras.

The scenario involved an armed robbery suspect leaving Elm Grove and abandoning his vehicle at the hilltop site near Wheeling Park. Instead of searching on foot, police were now able to take to the air with the drone and search for the suspect. The cameras on the drone not only offer multiple angles, but also have infrared capabilities.

“You now have the ability to look overtop of objects and with the IR camera be able to see heat signatures of maybe someone hiding behind something,” Martin said.

The suspect in the scenario was quickly located and apprehended by units on the ground who were led to him by the UART team.

“There have been many times that a drone could have come in handy at the Wheeling Police Department, but we just didn’t have one readily available,” Martin said. “Now that we do, the uses are endless.”

photo by: Photo by Eric Ayres

The Wheeling Police Department's new police drone has multiple cameras, including an infrared camera, that can help officers locate missing persons or fleeing criminal suspects from hundreds of feet in the air. The drone can also maneuver in light rain and reasonably adverse weather conditions, as was the case during Thursday's demonstration at Wheeling Park.

Schwertfeger said the inaugural use of the drone will be this weekend for the Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend festivities to support the police department’s public safety initiatives during big events with large crowds. The chief said the drone could be particularly useful on Sunday monitoring the Tough as Nails race around the more challenging obstacles.

“We’re looking at anywhere from pre-planned events, like this weekend, to emergency response,” Schwertfeger said. “There are just an unbelievable amount of opportunities related to law enforcement as well as public safety in general that we can use this equipment for. Several things that come to mind — such as some of our floods where we’ve had folks potentially swept away, water rescues, certainly monitoring traffic and crash scenes and multiple SWAT applications.

“This is basically like having a helicopter in the air — it has many of the same capabilities.”

The drone itself, a DJI Matric 300, can fly up to around 400 feet in the air and can maneuver through weather that’s not ideal for flying, with the exception of high-wind situations. It is equipped with a Zemuse H20T camera and can be further equipped with a number of useful accessories, such as a speaker and microphone that would enable the team to communicate with someone remotely with the drone.

Lou Vargo, Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and EMA director, said the unit can even carry up to 15 pounds of extra weight, which could allow it to deliver a life vest to an otherwise inaccessible person in distress during a water rescue. Vargo said the drone could also help firefighters safely locate hotspots after knocking down flames in a structure fire.

photo by: Photo by Eric Ayres

Cpl. Jason Martin of the Wheeling Police Department leads the officers that make up the new Unmanned Aerial Reconnaissance Team, adding advanced drone technology to the latest high-tech tools available to assist the department in a variety of situations. On Thursday, Martin demonstrated some of the capabilities of the new drone from the Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency's Unified Command Center, which housed a high-definition monitor that displaye

“We’ve experienced a lot of these incidents before — flooding, traffic crashes and searching areas that are not accessible by vehicle,” Martin said. “A lot of times without easy roadway access, it’s hard to get a full picture of what’s happening. Having the drone — and having our team trained and ready to go — will help greatly in any type of emergency.”

Officials said the bulk of this past week’s training sessions involved running through the various emergency scenarios in which a drone could be very useful. The team practiced searches for missing persons, monitoring traffic-related incidents, exploring waterways and responding to simulated criminal activities. The team was also educated on FAA rules and regulations, and they will all continue to work on obtaining their individual commercial drone licenses, officials said.

“There’s a lot involved, including FAA licenses and the training of being not only able to fly this equipment but to operate the camera system,” Schwertfeger said. “As you can see from the demonstration today, they’re obviously on top of it.”

The drone itself cost more than $30,000, and with the training, close to $40,000 has been spent on getting the new drone unit up and running. The city of Wheeling purchased the drone, which was paid in part through the JAG (Justice Assistance Grant) program.

Cpl. Jason Martin of the Wheeling Police Department leads the officers that make up the new Unmanned Aerial Reconnaissance Team, adding advanced drone technology to the latest high-tech tools available to assist the department in a variety of situations. On Thursday, Martin demonstrated some of the capabilities of the new drone from the Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency's Unified Command Center, which housed a high-definition monitor that displaye

The Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency's Unified Command Center houses a high-definition monitor that displayed aerial views from the Wheeling Police Department's new drone.

The Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency's Unified Command Center houses a high-definition monitor that displayed aerial views from the Wheeling Police Department's new drone.

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