Sheriff’s Department Uses Thermal Imager To Find Burglar Hiding in Woods
Jennings County Sheriff’s deputies were called to respond to a break-in at the Dupont Polaris four-wheeler dealership in Dupont, Indiana, at about 10:30 p.m. on October 22. The owner told police that he had heard a noise near his business and had driven over to the business to investigate. Just as he arrived, a truck was pulling away from the scene, occupied by just one person.
Just three days earlier, two burglars had stolen a $6,000 four-wheeler and had done $1,000 damage to the same building. Because of their knowledge of the former crime, deputies believed that another person was still at the scene that night, so they set up a perimeter around the facility and around the nearby woods. When a quick search wasn’t successful, officers called in a canine conservation officer to help find the suspect.
Soon after the conservation officer was called, Detective Sgt. David Turner called in Lt. Gary Driver, a fellow officer from the North Vernon Police Department. “I knew that Gary had access to a thermal imager and I thought that the device could help us find the suspect faster,” Turner said.
Detective Sgt. Turner and Lt. Driver walked the edge of the woods with the thermal imager. Within ten minutes, they identified the suspect curled up in a fetal position under a tree. Officers moved to within about 15 feet of the man and called for assistance from officers who were guarding the closest perimeter. After disarming the suspect, they escorted him out of the woods to a waiting squad car.
Asked about the impact of thermal imaging on the scene, Turner said that the technology sped the search considerably. “We would have had to wait for two hours or more for the canine conservation officer to arrive. And it’s possible that the dog could have lost the scent in the search,” he said. “With the thermal imager, it only took ten minutes to find the suspect. I’d recommend a thermal imager to any law enforcement organization that has the budget to get one.”
The Bullard TACSIGHT thermal imager for law enforcement can search out fugitives no matter how well camouflaged or hidden. Thermal imagers detect heat and are unaffected by the amount of light or camouflage.