Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office introduces new drone unit

MILWAUKEE COUNTY (CBS 58) – The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office will soon be using another tool.

On Tuesday, Mar. 23, the agency introduced its new drone unit. The unit is made up of eight members. They say the technology can be used in a variety of ways like mapping a crime scene and gives the department an aerial view of situations.

“Say there is a situation developing, we can get real time updates to the command center because they can view the footage,” MCSO Drone Unit commander Sgt. Andrew Bilda said. “So they can make critical decisions to what may need to happen next.”

The drones also have thermal imaging to help find someone who is missing or on the run.

.@MCSOSheriff has a new drone unit. We got a look at the drones today and learned how the sheriff’s office plans to use them. More on @CBS58: https://t.co/Jnk36JWBW6 pic.twitter.com/Le2SUC9YgK

— Emily Thornton (@EmilyThorntonTV) March 23, 2021

When it comes to car crashes, leaders say the drones will help keep people safe and get traffic back to normal in less time.

“Now when we have to map a fatality crash scene, that’s less time that we have to keep the freeway closed,” Bilda said. “Which is less of a chance of a crash happening while people are diverted off the freeway and we can get things back to normal quicker.”

MCSO has two drones. Right now, the unit is training and hopes to be up and running soon.