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SPI Entering Final Stages for Drone Use

6 years 8 months 1 week ago Wednesday, July 19 2017 Jul 19, 2017 July 19, 2017 10:38 PM July 19, 2017 in News

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND – South Padre Island police said their drones are ready to take flight and help in an emergency.

Last year, the city wasn't able to use them for Spring Break because they needed more training.

Two drones will be stationed in different parts of the island. Police, the fire department and the city will use them to help monitor large crowds, observe active scenes, and search for missing people.

SPI Police Chief Randy Smith said they will also be helpful at checking places which are hard to get to at the island.

"We’ve had a lot of times where we need to search some swampy areas or we need to search some sand dunes, hard to get to areas,” he said. “You might want to use an ATV a boat or helicopter or something, but these are quickly deployable. They can move through the areas and get scene footage that we need."

Smith says their in the final stages of the training. 

He said they expect to start using the drones out in the field within the next couple weeks.

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