Generous community members and hours of research performed by Logan County Sheriff’s Office deputies have resulted in a new piece of technology for the LCSO that already has bolstered officer safety, offered a bird’s eye when conducting searches, assisted with crash and crime scene mapping and reconstruction, along with a multitude of other benefits in recent months.
The sheriff’s office on Thursday, Jan. 16, offered an unveiling and demonstration of the department’s new drone to extend its appreciation to the donors who made this important and high-tech equipment possible without having to pull funds from the LCSO’s budget.
The local donors, Steve Buchenroth with Midwest Corporate Air Inc. and Teri Frymyer with Choice Properties Real Estate, and volunteers with the Behind the Badge program, were offered a first-hand look at the drone through a demonstration by newly certified pilots, LCSO Detectives Shawn McIntire and Adam Wood.
Buchenroth and Frymyer each provided $6,500 toward the drone purchase, and members of the Behind the Badge program donated funds to outfit the drone with all of its necessary accessories. Rodney Wrocklage and Steve Spath attended the presentation as Behind the Badge volunteers.
“This is the future; it is very cutting edge. It makes our jobs easier and so seamless,” said Deputy Jake Boyd, who serves as a dog warden for the department, and completed much of the background work toward securing the drone, speaking to other agencies to help select the best one.
As a testament to the visual clarity the drone images offer with its powerful zoom lens, officials said it was flown above the sheriff’s office, 284 S. County Road 32, and the pilots could read the time on the Logan County Courthouse clock tower.
The DJI Matrice M30T series drone has helped with local crime fighting and safety efforts since its arrival in the early months of 2024. Partnering agencies, including the Bellefontaine Police Department and the pilots on its drone team, put it to use in a variety of scenarios during 2024, while Detectives Wood and McIntire completed their Part 107 pilot’s license coursework and then passed their Federal Aviation Administration test.
The 3D mapping ability also has been used by the Multi-County Crash Reconstruction Team
to reconstruct crash scenes.
Just in the last week, the drone was utilized by the LCSO after an inmate walked off the job site at the Logan County Solid Waste Management District. It was a very frigid night, but that was not a problem for the drone, which also has thermal imaging available to capture heat signatures in difficult conditions.
“You can fly it in almost any weather,” Det. Wood said. “The cold is not a problem, but it does drain the battery faster. The main thing we have to worry about is windy conditions.”
In addition to searching for suspects or in a case when a child has gone missing, it also protects officer safety in particularly volatile situations, such as a stand off, providing a 360 degree bird’s eye view up to 400 feet in the air without disturbing the scene or a suspect.
“It’s absolutely pertinent to officer safety and for the Special Response Team to be able to see from the air what’s going on. That helps to advise our officers’ movements on the ground and to keep them out of harm’s way,” said Det. McIntire, who also serves as an evidence technician for the department.
The new drone features smart flight modes and it can be programmed to track an object, such as a suspect vehicle, which it then can follow on its own and record the object’s movements.
Learning about all that the drone is capable of has been Det. McIntire’s favorite part of the new pilot role.
“All of the technical capabilities are fascinating and it’s been rewarding getting to put the drone to work,” he said. “We’re looking forward to many more opportunities to put it to good use.”
