Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Nevada Highway Patrol making drones its eye in the sky

Nevada Highway Patrol Introduces New UAV

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Daniel Marek gives a demo of an unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) during the unveiling of Nevada Highway Patrol's new UAV program at Lone Mountain Regional Park in Las Vegas, Friday, Oct. 21, 2016. Trooper Marek is the only trained and authorized operator of the UAV seen in the background. Launch slideshow »

The Nevada Highway Patrol is unveiling a program to use flying drones as an eye in the sky over crash scenes.

State Department of Public Safety officials showed off one of the program's three unmanned aerial vehicles to the media on Friday at a county park in northwest Las Vegas.

Trooper Jason Buratczuk says the agency is the first in the state to begin an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle program.

He says the three NHP drones will be based in Las Vegas, Reno and Elko.

Buratczuk says the program should save money by giving crash investigators an aerial view to map and photograph a scene without having to summon an expensive-to-operate police helicopter.

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