State-of-the-art technology and the use of drones are making an incredible difference in how crimes are now being solved in Milledgeville and around the country.
Members of Milledgeville City Council were enlightened about such technology and the benefit of drones by officers with the Milledgeville Police Department at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
“As technology has become a major player in the prevention and the solving of crimes, you, as city alder members, have seen the need for the importance of providing resources to the city’s police department which allows them the opportunity to utilize the technology in their work,” said Mayor Pro Tem Denese Shinholster before officers made their presentation. “Additionally, many of the police department’s staff members have completed training and received certification in the use of various technology and the prevention of crimes for our public safety community.”
At the city council meeting, the police department was represented by Chief Dray Swicord, Maj. Linc Boyer, Detective Lt. Phillip Vinson, Sgt. Brandon Crawford, and Sgt. Thomas Smith.
Shinholster told fellow city council members that the officers were there to provide them with a special presentation about how such technology is being used on a daily basis to solve crimes within the city limits.
Swicord commended members of City Council for approving the police department’s new budget back in July that has allowed it to buy additional equipment in order to fight crime.
The police chief said the department currently has five drones.
“And I have with me our three pilots,” Swicord said.
The three include Vinson, Crawford and Smith.
Swicord then turned the presentation over to Vinson, who oversees the police department’s forensics lab.
“As Chief Swicord mentioned, we’ve come to utilize technology a lot more, especially during this fiscal year with the new lab along with the specialized training that I’ve received from the (U.S.) Secret Service,” Vinson said.
Vinson said technology is something that has become ever evolving.
“There’s nothing you can’t do now without technology and everybody knows that from a phone in your pocket,” Vinson told city government leaders.
He said the Milledgeville Police Department is now on the forefront of various technology that enables the local law enforcement agency to be one of the top agencies in the State of Georgia when it comes to state-of-the-art equipment and technology.
Such technology allows the police department to investigate cyber crimes, as well as local crimes such as shootings, robberies, burglaries, etc.
Vinson said the department’s new lab has provided officers with the capability to get the detailed information they need to solve certain crimes quicker.
Swicord said a lot of things have changed since 1986 in the field of law enforcement.
He recalled that when he walked into the police department that year, about six months after the police department had been built, that there were seven typewriters.
Today, Vinson said there are 35 desktop computers, a number of servers, 35 mobile computers, and 50 body cams within the Milledgeville Police Department.
Something else that continues to aid local police in the solving of various crimes are drones.
Sgt. Thomas Smith, who also investigates all fatalities and serious vehicle crashes in the city, followed Vinson with a presentation about drones and their capabilities in helping solve crimes whether it be in the daylight hours or nighttime hours.
“We brought one of our drones.” Smith said. “This is our newest one.”
Smith explained all drone pilots at the police department operate under the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidelines.
They fly the drones as commercial drone operators.
“All three of us are licensed through the FAA,” Smith said. “And two of us also hold a private pilot’s license through the FAA.”
Drones are defined by the FAA as small, unmanned aircraft systems.
The newest drone model is equipped with a thermal camera on the front of it.
It is the only drone that the police department has with thermal camera capabilities.
“Lt. Vinson just got three others that we’re testing out for other uses,” Smith said, noting they have the capability of flying up close to houses where regular drones would not ordinarily fly.
Smith said the police department has received 30 requests for drone deployments this year between MPD and other law enforcement agencies.
“We have an in-house training log that we keep,” he said. “We log all of our training flights there and any training of visual observers because the FAA likes for us to have visual observers or someone who can watch for us while we’re flying at night so they can watch the drone while we watch what we’re looking at.”
Smith said before the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office got their drones that MPD had rendered them assistance.
The police department’s drones also have aided the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
“And I recently went to Newton County to help them with some of their PR stuff,” Smith said. “We’ve also flown for the U.S. Secret Service, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Drug/Gang Task Force, the U.S. Marshal’s Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force and participated in some drills with the Baldwin County Emergency Management/Homeland Security Agency to help them out and to just give them an overall picture without them having to call in a helicopter.”