Sheriff’s office gets first drone

Search and rescue operations just got more high-tech for the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office.

It recently got its first drone, a Matrice 210. The drone can hold two cameras, including a thermal imaging camera. It also has a hook that can be used to drop things such as a rope to someone in the water or a cell phone during a stand off. The drone and the thermal imaging camera can be critical when it comes to looking for someone.

“It’s got a lot of capabilities as far as drones go,” said Captain Samuel Hulse with the sheriff’s office. “And so it’s really nice to have that available to us. Some of the primary functions for it obviously are like search and rescue. That’s one of the biggest things we got it for.”

The sheriff’s office has done a test flight with the drone. It is going to be training pilots before really getting to use it.