RICHLAND, Wash. – Richland police used Flock camera systems to find a stolen truck and later used a drone to track the suspected thief, the Richland Police Department said.
The Department said a large white box truck was reported as stolen on Monday morning. It said it used Flock, a system of automated license plate reading cameras, and traffic camera checks and found the stolen truck behind the AT&T store.
Police investigated and said they saw a suspect near the scene “acting suspiciously.” They later found the suspect’s name on items inside the stolen truck and developed probable cause to arrest him.
A Richland police officer deployed the department drone to track the suspect as he left towards the Columbia Point Golf Course.
The drone landed in a pond due to low battery while tracking the suspect and was later rescued by officers using a fishing rod, bungee cord and other items.
The suspect was later taken into custody, the Department said.
“The incident is a great example of how technology, teamwork, and a little ingenuity work together to keep our community safe… and sometimes give us a funny story to tell,” the department wrote in its report about the incident.
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