It seems that flying drones have become quite popular within the last five years. People enjoy using them for leisure purposes, scouting out the maps of their neighborhoods, when out hiking in the woods, or just for fun in their front yard. One San Francisco Sheriff’s department has a well-developed drone program with training for officers and emergency management protocols. They have over thirty drones in their arsenal and use them to find missing persons as well as scope out areas with fire damage.

That’s a big jump from the $120,000 laser scanner they had ten years ago.

Lugging its cords and generator through crime scenes and taking hours for photos must’ve caused a real delay in solving cases. Nowadays, drones can take amazing videos and photos of almost any area, including spots surrounded by fires and debris.

The real time images from the drones gives firefighters a better idea of how to prepare for the dangerous work ahead. The drones work in real time and can map crime scenes as well as give accurate geographical data and lineal distances. According to TechXplore, drones have helped to save at least 278 lives worldwide, in various situations, from hostage situations to missing persons and hiking accidents.

Could drones be a portal to the future when it comes to saving lives and preventing emergencies? That’s definitely looking like a concrete possibility. However, could they also be a problem when it relates to protecting civilian privacy? Potentially. Nonetheless, as technology expands, so does the ability of law enforcement to protect its constituents.

IMAGE COURTESY OF WALL ST. JOURNAL