The San Francisco Police Department has unveiled a futuristic fleet of drones that are widely used in hunting criminals.
Cutting-edge technology also serves as a lifeline for a department facing staffing shortages.
Voters paved the way for the use of high-flying robocops in March after voting yes on Proposition E.
The legislature allows the department to use a number of strategies, including drones and surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition.
The department showed dramatic drone footage, including car chases and fiery explosions, in a video uploaded to social media on Tuesday.
“For the first time in our historythe San Francisco Police Department has drones,” Chief of Police William Scott said in a clip posted for X, formerly Twitter.
“This means our hard-working officers finally have air support after nearly two decades without it.”
Traditional air support comes in the form of human-piloted helicopters.
But the department hasn’t trusted this strategy in more than two decades, after two officers died in a crash in 2000.
Scott says that drones help police officers gather information about suspects without putting themselves in danger.
Cutting-edge technology even has an advantage over human investigators.
“Now we can be more accurate, obtain better information and respond to crimes more quickly and effectively,” Scott explained.
And they have already delivered results.
On May 30, officers identified a “suspect of violent attempted kidnapping and sexual assault” and pinpointed his location using technology.
O drones were also used in a high-risk incident that saw suspects detonating fireworks at an intersection on July 4th.
“Our drones helped identify threats while our mobile field force and tactical units developed a plan and dispersed the crowd before things got worse,” Scott said.
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O technology also helped arrest two robbery suspects after they were caught breaking into cars on July 26.
O drones tracked down the suspects and identified their location, leading to their arrest.
The devices were used in the same way to dismantle a car theft crew on the same day. next day.
As San Francisco police embrace the new technologythe city itself is struggling to recover from a damaged public image.
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Despite seeing the decade low crime Last year, San Fran was portrayed as a devastated haven for criminals in the media.
This year alone, there has been a 42% reduction in thefts, including car break-ins and retail robberies, year on year.
In a statement posted on X, Scott wrote that drones were only suitable for “technology capital of the world.”
O police The force has used just six drones so far, although they plan to expand the fleet in the coming months.
As numbers increase, more officers will be trained as certified drone pilots.
The department is also looking for ways to integrate senior technology with automated license readers and security cameras throughout the city.
“Our work is far from over,” Scott wrote.
What is retail crime?
Retail theft has become a major problem for stores and customers in recent years as crime rates have soared.
Several CEOs have blamed organized retail crime for the use of unpopular anti-theft measures such as locking items and checking receipts.
ORC is the large-scale theft of merchandise from stores with the intent to resell it.
These operations may involve multiple people working together to steal or steal large quantities of high-value items in an attempt to escape store security.
Retailers have reported an increase in shrinkage, which is the industry term for merchandise lost to theft or misplacement.
A National Retail Security of 2023 Survey by the National Retail Federation showed that the reduction increased to 1.6%.
The survey also revealed that the ORC increased from 70.7% in 2022 to 78.15 in 2023.
Retailers also shared their concerns about threats of violence against employees that have been linked to retail theft.
Several industry leaders shared their concerns about these worrying levels of crime.
Target’s CEO said last year that the chain would close several stores due to the threat of “theft and organized retail crime” to employees and “business performance.”
A former Toys “R” Us CEO said some stores were “afraid to stop thieves” and said changing attitudes toward theft had an impact on stores.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
