Oklahoma police departments are increasingly using drones with thermal imaging for their operations, and this imaging identifies heat signatures that are invisible to the naked dye. Especially helpful in low light or adverse conditions, drones with thermal imaging capabilities help law various enforcement operations, including search and rescue, tactical situations and crime scene investigations, as well as detecting and locating suspects, hotspot detection, assessing disaster sites and inspecting power lines and buildings.
Thermal imaging is often part of small, unmanned aircraft systems.
“SUAS stands for ‘small unmanned aircraft systems,’ which are commonly referred to as drones,” says Capt. Jason Bussert, leader of the Information Technology Unit of the Oklahoma City Police Department. “These systems are equipped with standard cameras, thermal imaging and night vision. They can also carry attachments like lights and speakers, allowing us to illuminate areas or communicate with individuals on scene.
Bussert continues: “Thermal imaging is a technology that detects heat emitted by objects, people or animals and converts it into a visual image. It allows public safety teams to ‘see’ in total darkness, through smoke, and in other low-visibility conditions.”
The technology relies on infrared radiation to create its images.
“We’ve been using infrared on our helicopters for many years,” says Capt. Richard G. Meulenberg IV, Communications Unit Coordinator with the Tulsa Police Department. “It detects a heat signature. It helps you search a vast area looking for a difference in temperature. The human body has its own temperature. If there is a missing child in a field or by the river or in a forested area, that child is going to stand out amongst the background.”
Meulenberg continues: “It is an established technology. It is used heavily commercially and privately. Even electricians use it. High-end hunters also use it with a thermal imaging scope.”
Thermal drones are used in various ways, including by fire departments, according to Bussert.
“We share a dock system with fire that allows drones to be remotely launched from docking stations located at police and fire facilities, traveling autonomously to call locations,” he says. “Also, we have patrol-assigned drones that can be deployed by responding officers, some of which can also be remotely piloted. As well, our traffic and crime scene units use drones to document scenes from the air for accuracy and evidence preservation.”
With these thermal imaging drones, safety is the priority.
“It saves lives and keeps us safe,” says Meulenberg. “It provides an angle that’s not available from standing on the ground. It’s another tool we can use.”
How Thermal Imaging Works
The Department of Homeland Security website explains that night vision technology was developed in the 1960s. The technology provided the U.S. military with capabilities to see in low light and extremely dark conditions without using search lights or illuminators. One component of this technology is thermal imaging.
“Objects around us give off heat to some degree, and that heat is made up of long wavelength infrared radiation that the human eye cannot see,” according to dhs.gov. “Thermal imaging uses a sensor to convert the radiation into a visible light picture…this picture helps us identify objects in total darkness.”
