How the Ocean City Police Department’s new drone unit is ensuring safety on the New Jersey coast

OCEAN CITY, New Jersey (WPVI) – After months of planning, the Ocean City Police Department’s new drone program has launched.

Lt. Mark Pancoast leads the unit with three drones and five FAA-certified pilots.

“The safety of officers and the public depends on how efficiently and, more importantly, how effectively these resources are used,” Pancoast said.

On Wednesday, Action News was able to take a closer look at the device and how it works.

According to police, the drones have already been used in numerous incidents within a week of the program’s launch.

In one case, they were called to help search for a missing person in a creek near Woodbine.

“We were able to find him within the first few minutes,” Pancoast said.

In another case, nighttime video from Ocean City Police shows officers being called to an unconscious woman on the beach. Police say they found her using the thermal imaging cameras on their new drones.

And over the weekend, police used a drone to track down several suspects in a car allegedly stolen in Camden County.

According to police, six teenagers between the ages of 13 and 16 were arrested in this case. All are accused of possession of stolen property and other crimes.

Another new drone feature allows the operations manager on the ground to view the drone’s live image on a laptop and also view body cameras.

“If there are multiple officers on scene, the dispatcher can activate multiple body cameras at the same time,” Pancoast said.

He wants to get the word out about this new program so people won’t be surprised when they see it.

“When you show the background scenes, you can see that we are not doing anything secret or evil with these drones,” he said. “They are for public safety.”

Given the sometimes unruly crowds on the boardwalk, Pancoast announces that they will use the drones to keep an eye on the beach and boardwalk areas on the weekends.

He hopes to expand the program in the future with more trained pilots.