In 2017, The Spalding County Sheriff's Office, through a technology grant, purchased the first of our DJI Phantom drones. Within weeks after fielding the drone, the HAWK was able to locate an elderly dementia patient that has walked away from home and had been missing for 27 hours. Hawk, using FLIR technology was able to locate the missing man who was dehydrated, hypothermic, and suffered from multiple lacerations caused by the terrain he was found in. Based on that successful mission it was determined to use asset forfeiture funds to purchase additional HAWKS. Each set of sister shifts now has a drone and drone pilots. With this fielding, there is a drone available 24 hours a day to our agency and the agencies around us.

    The GRIP wrote a news article on the HAWK program in 2018.  It can be found on their website at https://the-grip.net/2018/06/13/scso-expands-hawk-drone-program/ . The article talks about the program and the story of a man that was lost at night. Using the newly acquired drone with its FLIR camera, the man was found quickly before he could become injured. These drones have proven their usefulness time and again!