Dearborn police uses drones to stop car thefts as they happen

Drone helps Dearborn police stop car thieves

Police say thieves showed up to a car theft in a stolen car, targeting Kias using a hack made popular a few years prior, where they jimmy the ignition switch with a USB cord.  But then, in 60 seconds, a drone from Dearborn police was overhead.

DEARBORN, Mich. (FOX 2) - Dearborn police have unleashed drones to help stop vehicle heists as they play out. 

Big picture view:

Police say recently, two suspects showed up to a vehicle theft in a stolen car, targeting Kias using a hack made popular a few years prior, where they jimmy the ignition switch with a USB cord. 

However, in 60 seconds, a drone from Dearborn police was flying overhead.

"The drone pilot hits the button, the drone launches, flies to the scene autonomously," explained Dearborn Police Commander Tim McHale. "As it arrives on scene, the pilot takes over. It starts looking for and assessing the scene and starts looking for vehicles or people. Before, we would be spending hours and many officers, and sometimes we wouldn’t locate a vehicle we were looking for."

License plate readers alerted the Dearborn Police Department to a stolen car, and the drone was launched from there.

Undercover officers spotted the two suspects trying to get another Kia from the Walmart plaza in Dearborn near Southfield and Ford. Police chased the suspects on foot and ended up arresting both. 

Dig deeper:

Officials have been using six drones for just two months now, and they say they’re seeing response times plummet.