Albany police drone program gets off the ground

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Albany Police Department has a new high tech tool to help fight crime. A DJI drone with all the bells and whistles.

"This kind of stuff you saw in movies with big gigantic drones and military stuff," Albany Police Lt. Willie Flack said. "I've always been a techie type of guy. You gotta remember, when I came on the job, not every one had phones."

A lot has changed in the 27 years Lt. Flack has been on the job. His special operations unit now operates three drones.

"It takes hundreds of pictures," he explained. "We can put the drone up and be done in 10-15 minutes."

Right now, it's used mostly in the traffic division for accident reconstruction. But their newest tool isn't just helping to clear up traffic congestion. Most recently, the bird's eye view helped with a missing persons case.

On January 13, Lt. Flack sent up his drone scanning a scene looking for a missing 39-year-old with the thermal imaging camera. "We went over to Slingerland Street, set it up to the way I have it over here. We found a heat signature. We were able to get him to the hospital," he said.

It's one of the main reasons he wanted the high tech tool for the department. "I started getting interested in these because of  search and rescue," he told NEWS10.

The drones come with a $5,000 to $13,000 price tag, a smart controller, and a lot of training.