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Operation Santa Patrol: Police using drones to protect shoppers

It's a strategic, crime reduction plan for targeted residential and commercial business areas in Salisbury.

SALISBURY, N.C. — The Salisbury Police Department is ramping up its efforts to combat holiday season crime through Operation Santa Patrol.

It's a strategic, crime reduction plan for targeted residential and commercial business areas.

Police Chief Jerry Stokes said officers will increase patrols in major retail areas, the downtown shopping area, and residential neighborhoods to crack down on car break-ins, car thefts, as well as robberies and burglaries that see an uptick this time of year.

“We want to support both our citizens in having a great holiday season when they're out and about and visiting family, and we want to make sure that our merchants are successful during the holiday season as well,” Stokes said.

In addition to the increased presence, the department will utilize bait and decoy vehicles, foot patrols, and plain-clothes operations as needed.

"Data shows us if an officer can just spend 15 minutes in an area that for upwards of an hour sometimes more, they can prevent crime from occurring,” Stokes added.

Officers are also using drones in the sky over retail areas as an added surveillance tool.

“We are using them to monitor the parking lots, so when we fly up, we can zoom into cars, follow people around parking lots,” Detective Brent Hall said. “If we see any suspicious activity, obviously we can zoom in using our camera, and hopefully get an identification and call other officers in.”

Hall said the drones haven’t caught any criminal activity on camera yet, but he anticipates the technology will be useful this holiday season.

“We can go to certain areas, really, really quick and identify people that may be a danger or up to something that they shouldn't be up to,” Hall said.

The officers will be working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week with a goal to reduce offenses by 15 percent during the holiday season compared to the same time frame as last year.

"If you're going to be the Grinch for the holiday season,” Stokes said. “We're going to make sure you spend some time in jail for that."

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