David Trinko | The Lima News
Lima Police Department Lt. Ben Thompson, right, demonstrates how a drone can use thermal imaging to identify where Lt. Matt Douglass was on Dec. 5. The department credits drone flights with helping solve some recent crimes and helping keep officers safe at crime scenes.
James Lee probably thought he’d made a clean escape from Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution back in May 2023. Little did he know he essentially turned himself in as he drove away in a stolen vehicle.
“When he went by one of the Flock (Safety) cameras, he had his arm hanging out the window, and we identified a tattoo on his arm,” Allen County Sheriff Matt Treglia said. “That’s how we knew, although they were in a stolen car, that we could identify where they were and find them.”
That’s one of the many cases — in addition to using cameras and drones to find missing residents with dementia, alert about possible criminals at crime scenes or even keep rowdy guests from coming back into the Allen County Fair — that make area law enforcement see the potential for technology to help them do their jobs better.
“Some people think it’s just ‘Big Brother’ watching,” Auglaize County Sheriff Mike Vorhees said, alluding to the authoritarian figure in George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984.” “That’s just not the case at all. It’s the case where law enforcement can share information and catch criminals who are crossing state lines and jurisdictions.”
The lack of statewide laws about how cameras are used have privacy advocates, such as Gary Daniels, the legislative director of the ACLU of Ohio, concerned about possible misuse, though.
“You’ve essentially got at the statewide level almost no law governing the use of this type of technology,” Daniels said. “I’ve yet to see really anything meaningful at the local level as well.”
Soaring to new heights, together.
Be sure to visit the BWU Technology Partnerships Initiative website to learn more about how our NEOFIX program drives economic growth, promotes policy and infrastructure to improve drone safety and efficiency in various industries, and ensures that drone technology is being used responsibly.