SHAVANO PARK, Texas – Small cities in Bexar County are trying to keep up with the newest crime-fighting gadgets while operating with a small budget.
Shavano Park Police Chief Ray Lacy said his city has been investing money to equip officers with the right tools.
“One of the crime-fighting tools that I brought in when I came here three years ago as the police chief is, we added some thermal units for seeing heat at night,” Lacy said.
The thermal cameras are mounted on the patrol cars and allow officers to have a better view of a suspect hiding or person they are looking for, especially at night.
“We have used these. We haven't caught anybody, but we've used these extensively on every shift,” Lacy said.
The tool can come in handy for crime-fighting or to help find a missing person or child, he said.
A few miles away from Shavano Park, the Converse Police Department has purchased six drones and has trained six officers how to use them.
Officer Jonathan Korczynski, one of the trained officers, said he’s excited because the technology can be used in different ways.
“When it comes down to a barricaded subject, this is a $300 device, and you can't put a price on an officer's life,” he said.
Converse PD has also purchased less-lethal impact munitions, or shotgun bean bags, which are intended to inflict pain on a suspect to stop them, said Sgt. Gil Martinez.
“It's a pain compliance device and inflicts blunt force trauma to the body. It will leave a pretty nasty bruise on the person. It can tear off skin,” he said.
The 12-gauge shotgun is cost-efficient for law enforcement agencies, Martinez said. The technology has been around for decades, but only special teams had access to it in the past.
Martinez said the technology has improved a lot.
The technology is not limited to those municipalities. Through mutual aid agreements, law enforcement agencies can be called by other agencies in the county to share their tools and/or officers.