Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


The Hamburg Township Public Safety Drone Team helped successfully resolve two incidents over the past week.

The first took place on Saturday, October 21st around 12:15pm when members of the Drone Team were dispatched to assist in the search for a 71-year-old man with dementia who had walked away from his home near a large wooded area and had been missing for over an hour.

A drone was deployed and located the man in a swampy area approximately 30 yards from a lake. Utilizing the drone, team members were able to keep the man in view and direct other first responders to his location. The man was said to be cold but appeared in otherwise good health and was transported to a local hospital for a medical evaluation.

The second incident occurred on Monday, October 23rd around 9:35pm when members of the Drone Team were activated to assist in the search for a suicidal 66-year-old man believed to be in a wooded area of a state recreation area.

A drone was again deployed and located the man in what was described as an extremely dark and wooded area of the park. Team members utilized the drone’s spotlight as other officers were able to make contact with the man and take him into protective custody without incident.

The Hamburg Township Public Safety Drone Team began in 2021 and is comprised of 8 members of the Hamburg Township Public Safety Department, 4 firefighters, and 4 police officers.

The team is said to be well-trained and well-equipped.

Team members possess FAA pilot licenses and conduct extensive training on a monthly basis. The team currently has 5 drones varying in size and technological capabilities. Three have thermal imaging capabilities.

Public Safety Director Rick Duffany said the Drone Team is an invaluable resource for the department and the community as there are many areas within the township that are difficult to access quickly for first responders including lakes, the Huron River, the Brighton State Recreation Area, and the Lakelands Trail.

Since the inception of Hamburg Township’s Drone Team, the drones have been utilized numerous times to search for lost persons, search for fleeing suspects, locate medical emergencies on the waterways, map and document flood events, and provide real-time video feeds to incident commanders at both police and fire scenes.