Lubbock Police are taking police-work to new heights, with the introduction of a drone to be used for crime scene investigations.

Officers call it “Goose.” The drone, a DJI Inspire quadrotor, cost LPD roughly $5,000 including the accessories, which the department received through a grant.

Officer Tony Leal and Corporal Mike McGowen make up the two-person team that operates the device.

“We’re authorized under a blanket COA, Certificate of Authenticity from the FAA. Right now we’re just using it to train until we can get the program up and running to where they need it to be,” Leal said.

The pair explained the drone would be used to take aerial photos and video (with no sound).

“We’re just using it as an extra tool to us if we need to conduct aerial searches of a scene for missing persons, or in the event to take aerial photographs and video of crime scenes,” said Leal.

Not only does it save LPD costs on manpower, it saves taxpayer dollars, and is able to cover more ground in a faster amount of time.

“In the event that we need to conduct a search like this field (at Lt. Colonel George Davis Park) it would take a number of people from the Lubbock Police Department half a day or more to conduct a thorough search of it. Using this device, we can get it done in an hour, using two people,” Leal said. “It will free up other officers to use those resources elsewhere where the investigation may need that.”

“There are currently mapping systems that we could attach to the quadrotor… (to) give it the ability to conduct a laser scan of a scene and map that scene for us,” said Leal. “That in itself makes the investigation a whole lot easier than me taking out graph paper and a pencil and taking two days to actually draw that on a  clipboard.”

“We don’t want to be behind the curve, so to speak, when it comes to trying to catch a criminal, search for someone, we want to be as forward or as ahead of the curve as we can,” he explained.

McGowen described some of the rules in place, including no flying when the wind speeds hit 20-25 miles per hour, a common occurrence in West Texas. If the wind interrupts the signal, the device automatically lands safely.

“It has an automatic return to home feature. And what it will do, is it will go to a predetermined height, fly back to where it took off from, straight above that point, and then come straight down. That way, it gets up above any obstructions, comes over to where it’s supposed to land, and comes right back down,” McGowen explained.

“It’s an electronic, and electronics can fail,” added Leal. “What we don’t want to happen is that thing to fail while it’s 200 feet above a crowd of people, which as you can tell is a potential hazard.”

Leal also said the device is “not a spy tool.”

“It’s not something we’re going to be using to spy on anyone with, and we don’t want the public to think that,” he stated.

At the end of the day, both men said they’re glad LPD is utilizing the advanced technology that exists, which could help solve crimes in a new way.

And, they said it is a cool job.

“Being up in the air and being able to see down 400 feet, and getting a visual of things, you get to see another side of Lubbock that you usually don’t see,” Leal said.

“We actually get paid to do this,” stated McGowen.

The department said it expected to have the drone ready for regular use by the end of November, after completing some administrative paperwork.