A missing 26-year-old woman has been found safe in Santa Ana, with police crediting one of their drones for helping track her down. The Santa Ana Police Department announced the update early Tuesday morning, saying the woman was reunited with her family after being located with the aircraft's help.
According to Santa Ana Police Department, the woman was identified in the update as 26-year-old Kimberlim Liamas, who officers say “was located safely and reunited with her family” with the assistance of the department's drone, designated “#31Eagle.”
The original advisory, issued before she was found, described her as wearing headphones, an orange or red jacket with a brown fur hood, a black and light blue striped shirt, dark-colored pants, and dark blue running shoes. That bulletin asked anyone with information on her whereabouts to contact the SAPD Watch Commander at (714) 245-8700. No further details on when or where she was found, or how the search unfolded, were included in the department's public update.
Santa Ana's Drone Program
Santa Ana's police drone program was pitched in part as a tool for emergency response. The Santa Ana City Council approved a Drone as a First Responder system and the purchase of five drones back in February, according to Voice of OC, which reported the approved contract was capped at $682,900 and funded through state and local law enforcement assistance grants.
LAist's account of the same vote described a different scope, reporting that the city council voted 4-3 to authorize a three-year agreement with Axon Enterprise, with the drones expected to cost the city around $700,000 funded by a state grant.
The city's Spanish-language program materials list “personas desaparecidas o en situación de riesgo” — missing or at-risk people — as a possible use for the drones, according to Voice of OC.
How Santa Ana's Program Fits a Broader Trend
Santa Ana wasn't breaking new ground locally when it adopted the technology. Voice of OC's coverage noted that similar drone programs were already in use by most other Orange County cities.
The trend extends well beyond Orange County. LAist reported that nearly 60 California law enforcement agencies now use drone programs, a figure the outlet attributed to the Los Angeles Police Department, and the same report described Chula Vista's police department as deploying automated Drone as First Responder units broadly ahead of ground officers for routine 911 calls.
Santa Ana Police Chief Robert Rodriguez has previously pointed to cases similar to those uses when defending the program's value. According to Citizen Portal, Rodriguez said department drones had helped locate a lost elderly person with Alzheimer's and reunite children with their families.
