The Alameda County Sheriff's Office had a demonstration of the unmanned drone that may potentially be part of the tools soon available to explosive ordinances teams or to be used for search and rescue operations along with other uses like searching for hot spots after a fire.
According to the Contra Costa Times, the craft is powered by four propellers drawing power from a small power pack.
The demonstration took place on Saturday morning, behind the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, during the Urban Shield training happening this weekend in the East Bay.
In a previous Patch article, Sheriff Ahern said the drone would be more cost effective than having a helicopter and could be used for officer safety and for tactical missions such as search warrants.
"This would be less expensive, more valuable and have more uses (than a helicopter)," said Ahern, adding that a helicopter cost $3 million buy and upwards of $300 an hour to operate."
Ahern also addressed the issue of privacy in the previous article by saying the public's rights and privacy are of the utmost importance to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.
"We would have in place policies and procedures to include privacy and rights along with safety protocols prior to deployment [of the drone]," said Ahern. "We do everything in our power to protect the freedoms of the people in our community and we take great pride in that priority and do whatever we can to maintain that trust."
Check out Urban Shield on Facebook all weekend for pictures of the training.
