Stealing a page from the Pearland Police Department, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is getting ready to launch a new program using 'drones' to respond to 911 calls.
"The Woodlands is going to be our test pilot program for the entire county" said Lt. Scott Spencer, "They'll be able to go up, go over the trees, and this is a great fit because we are growing and our infrastructure is extremely stressed to the max. Cops are using the same roads as everybody else."
Crime and congestion. So how does it work?
"The drones would go up immediately on those calls, go to the scene and be able to start looking for the suspects, record evidence and relay that information to first responders as they're coming to the scenes" Lt. Spencer told KTRH.
And as for any concerns about privacy with the use of drones?
"We have more than enough on our plate to be able to do, to be able to just fly a drone randomly to be looking at a backyard of somebody's house without a purpose or a legal reason to be able to do that" noted Lt. Spencer.
If all goes well in The Woodlands, the drones will be used throughout Montgomery County.