Drones are part of a growing list of tools for first responders. 

The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office use drones with thermal cameras that allow the department to spot people on the ground using their body heat.

“It's essential for us to have these drones to better serve our community,” sheriff’s office spokesman Sgt. Enrique Longoria said.

The use of drones continues growing for police, according to SOARD Solutions Owner John Franz. 

Franz says departments are adopting more technology, but criminal organizations along the border are flying their own.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol Chief Gloria Chavez testified to Congressional members that in one year, the agency recorded 10 thousand drone incursions on the Texas-Mexico border.

Franz says criminal organizations are getting their hands on the same features that are helping police, and in the wrong hands, tracking features will be disabled or not present at all.

“Some of these homemade drones are what's going to be very dangerous,” Franz said. “You can make them small, you can make them autonomous, you can make it to where they're not reliant on a controller."

Franz says the future of his company will include the growing need for drone detection technology, and tools to bring down illicit drones from the sky.

“That's going to help public safety, but that same technology is also going to pose a bit of a risk,” Franz added. 

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