Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announced today the addition of “FLIR” to the Sheriff’s Department tools and commitment to improving the quality of life in the Midlands.
Sheriff Leon Lott held a press conference today at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport to give the community a first hand look at the Department’s Aviation Unit. Sheriff Lott stated that the OH58A+ helicopter was recently outfitted with “FLIR” system (forward looking infrared system) as part of a federal grant and was added to the helicopter that the Sheriff acquired in 1999 as part of the FREE military surplus program. After outfitting the OH58, using seized narcotics funds, he continued to search for new technology and equipment that would enable the department to search more effectively for missing persons, fugitives, narcotics dealers and drugs and also to patrol our communities.
T he RCSD Aviation Unit is comprised of three deputies fulltime, the helicopter and a Cessna 172 airplane – the three deputies are assigned to the narcotics division and are supported by deputies from other divisions as needed. Sheriff Lott stated that the “FLIR” was added to the Aviation Unit as he continues to pursue state of the art technology at the lowest possible expense to the citizens. The Aviation Unit is extremely effective in preventing crime and in capturing those that would threaten our safe communities.
Sheriff Leon Lott demonstrated the use of the “FLIR” with a video, recorded by the Department, of the Departments K9, Traffic Safety and Aviation Units. The video demonstrates the “FLIR” which is a thermal and color digital camera system that allows the helicopter to search while it also records the operations. The scenario on the video is of Traffic Safety Deputy Boyles who locates an armed robbery suspect and attempts to conduct a traffic stop on him – the suspect flees on foot and K9 Team Cpl. Willis and Tyson respond and capture the robber. Sheriff Leon Lott added that the scenario is captured on the “FLIR” system and is one example of the capabilities of the system, the helicopter and the pilots – the scenario can be viewed by going to media releases link off our home page which is www.rcsd.net . June 03, 2008 | |||
