Tacsight SE35 Camera

What began as a simple SWAT training session for San Leandro, CA police on March 29 soon escalated to a rapid foot chase to catch a serial robber. The robber led police to a local creek infested with poison oak plants, leaving officers in an itchy situation to say the least.

On Monday, March 19, Kevin Krause of L.N. Curtis & Sons and Stephen Boro of Bullard gave a demonstration of the Tacsight SE35, a Bullard Thermal Imager, designed for law enforcement. After the demonstration, the unit was loaned to San Leandro Police to test the device in the field and during SWAT training. The device was delivered to San Leandro Police on March 29 to be used during SWAT training that evening.

The SWAT team thermal imaging training was cut short so the team could do surveillance of various businesses in the City of San Leandro that have been plagued by a serial armed robber. Shortly after setting up the police units at different stores, the armed robber struck at a video store that was being watched by a SWAT member. A foot chase ensued with the robber fleeing into the heavily vegetated, steep banked San Leandro creek. The banks are laden with several poison oak plants and it is not uncommon for officers doing searches to get a severe case of poison oak rash. A perimeter was established and a K-9 summoned. The creek area had no lights so officers had to rely only on their flashlights. Since the SWAT team still had the Bullard Thermal Imager, it was deployed. The officer scanned the banks of the creek and the thermal imager showed the robber hiding in the vegetation approximately 50 yards away. Officers were directed to the robber and while standing three feet from the still hidden robber, officers could not see him in the vegetation.

“Within 20 minutes of the initial robbery the suspect was in custody and no officers contracted poison oak. Each officer on scene said without a doubt the robber would have escaped had it not been for the thermal imaging device. Who would have thought that the first night the device was deployed a serial robber would be caught with it? It sold itself to our Chief and Captain,” said Detective Sergeant Jerry Coddle, Property Crimes Division Supervisor, San Leandro Police.

For more information, visit www.bullard.com/Tacsight

If you would like to tell us about an incident in which TacSight has made a difference in your work, send an e-mail to ashley_smith@bullard.com. Selected stories will be featured in an upcoming issue of this newsletter.