Reno police used their Drone as First Responder program to end a violent 30 minute manhunt without firing a shot, and the story of how the city got that drone says as much about the counter of the American drone market as the arrest itself.
On July 8, a 35 year old woman attacked multiple people with a baseball bat at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park, rammed a patrol vehicle to escape, crashed into another car across town half an hour later, and fled on foot, armed, as 2 News Nevada reported. A Reno Police Department drone pilot found her first.
I write about drone programs across the United States every week, and the pattern this incident fits is the one that matters most to the industry: the vendor map of American policing is still being drawn, and it has more than two names on it.
A Bat Attack, Two Crashes, And A 30 Minute Manhunt
The sequence moved fast. The initial assault at the regional park turned into a vehicle pursuit that deputies broke off after the suspect rammed a patrol unit. Thirty minutes later she resurfaced near Kietzke Lane and Virginia Street, crashed into another vehicle, and disappeared on foot while armed.
That is the exact scenario where a fleeing suspect usually wins: a dense commercial area, a head start, and officers arriving with seconds-old information. Instead, the DFR pilot spotted her quickly and never let go…