Cops’ ‘coolest’ tool now ready for water rescue

The Saukville Police Department’s “coolest” tool since the taser is even more useful after a donation by the Lion’s Club last week.

Sgt. Robert Ramthun said the donated “drop hook” device for the department’s DGI M30 thermal drone will expand the flying camera’s functionality from missing person and suspect searches to water rescues.

The QZ BK30 Drop Hook allows the drone to deliver self-inflating life jackets to stranded boaters or kayakers.

“Water rescues are usually remote, where the river isn’t easy to get to,” Ramthun said. “People never capsize their kayaks near the park launch.”

He said the device will primarily be used during rescues on the Milwaukee River or on Lake Michigan, where it could assist rescue boats.

“If someone is in the water by Lion’s Den Park, we could be launched from the park and be there in a matter of minutes,” he said, referring to the Ozaukee County nature preserve in the Town of Grafton. The drone has a flight range of several miles.

The drop hook can also be used to bring aid to people stranded in hard-to-reach places. It can carry flashlights, water bottles or “pretty much anything” that can fit in the claws, Ramthun said.

“It can be used for whatever your imagination could come up with,” he said.

The department got its first drone in 2020. Four years and 32 flights later, it upgraded to a larger and better-equipped device.

The drone has been used to search for missing persons and track down fleeing suspects, Ramthun said. So far this year, the drone has been called for 30 missions.

“In my 25 years at Saukville, this is the coolest tool law enforcement has got since the taser,” he said. “It’s a totally different vantage point that we never had before.

“Rather than the cops digging through the woods, we can locate the suspect and then go get them.”

There are five drones owned by public safety departments in the county. Ramthun said the Sheriff’s Office, the Port Washington and Cedarburg police departments and the Port Washington Fire Department all have drones.

“We’ve really started to work together,” Ramthun said. With several drone teams responding to the same call, they can cover more ground or trade off drones to manage battery depletion.

In March, the Saukville Police Department joined 70 other drone teams from across the state in Two Rivers to fill the air in search for Elijah Vue. 

The search was unsuccessful, Ramthun said, “but it was amazing to see that many drones operating simultaneously.”

Ramthun said he realized how revolutionary drone technology was in March 2019, when a Washington County drone team assisted a search and rescue during a flood.

By the time the Saukville department found footprints leading to a stranded driver, the drone team was watching him with thermal technology.

Soon after, the department purchased its first device and several officers attained a drone pilot’s license from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The initial training only took a day, Ramthun said, “They are idiot-proof.”

The drone can fly in winds up to 30 miles per hour and self-stabilizes.

The Lions donated $1,200 for the water rescue system. The drop hook cost $800 and each of the reusable inflatable devices costs $120.

Ramthun said drones bring capabilities previously available only to large police departments.

“It’s amazing to see stuff from that angle and the cost is pennies on the dollar compared to a helicopter,” he said.