The Greene County Sheriff’s Office purchased a new piece of equipment that has played a vital role at times when it has been used.

The Greene County Community Foundation awarded the Sheriff’s Office with a $13,766 grant for a new drone. Sheriff Jack Williams tells Raccoon Valley Radio their older drone has been used with some frequency in the past.

“Since we started the drone program, probably six or seven years ago, we’ve used it at least two or three times a year to find either lost people, lost kids, or criminals who fled the scene in a rural area into the corn fields. We’ve used them to find them in the corn field then.”

Williams states that one of the technologies with the drone is thermal imaging, which he points out was adequate before, but the new drone can handle situations better.

“I think it was last year where we had a car accident where a person went into the corn field and never came back out. We had to use the drones and called (the) Carroll County (Sheriff’s Office) for their bigger drone to help locate that person in the corn field. We definitely use the thermal quite a bit, especially on the (Raccoon) river because it helps us see that person more clearly at night, better than night vision.”

Williams adds some of the other improved features of the new drone includes 200x zoom lenses, batteries last for four hours and can cover 80 acres in 20 minutes and provides images up to three colors, whereas the older model only had black and white capabilities. He thanks the Greene County Community Foundation for their help in purchasing the new drone.