DBUS2 Nails Home Robbery Suspect

Press

Recently, our customer, who purchased a DBUS2, was playing with his new drone at home in the Willow Glenn neighbourhood of San Jose, Calif. He had gotten it only that morning, a state-of-the-art DBUS2 that navigates solely by sight. He got it in the air almost immediately, no coaching. No finicky GPS and time-consuming calibrations required by other 4K camera drones. What he didn’t know was what it would show him.

Our customer made a couple of test runs filming delightful images of his young children, marvelling at how easy and fun it was. He wasn’t expecting the sinister video to come.

Around 7:00 PM while it was still light, he decided to go for a third and last flight. He told us he wanted to get a panoramic shot of his neighborhood so friends could see where he lived. As his children played contentedly, he soared straight up high above his home.

Suddenly he saw something chilling from the drone’s camera feed: a strange man in dark clothing, face disguised by a hoodie, in his neighbour’s backyard. He knew that no one was supposed to be there. His own fence had hidden the man from where he stood. On the video, he saw the stranger walk up to and fiddle with the back door.

What happened next was quick: “We saw him on video trying to break into my neighbours’ house. My wife called 911. The police came very quickly but couldn’t see him and of course, there was no response to their knock on the front door. We told the police, ‘Go into the back yard!’ and they caught the guy. Wow.” He has offered over his drone’s video to the police as evidence. Because of the status of the case his identity has been kept confidential.

Wow, indeed.

Security drones have been predicted to be $10 billion worth of a $127.3 billion market for commercial drone applications by 2020, according to PwC. (i)Police around the U.S. routinely use drones to capture suspects. Last May, Orland Park, Chicago police told NBC they had deployed a drone 25 times in the past two years, finding wanted armed fugitives.(ii)

Because of its exceptional ease of use the DBUS2 is a great drone for capturing fun video of friends and family. But it makes a great home security tool, too. Who knew just days after it began shipping it would help capture a home robbery suspect? Neighborhood Watch never had it so good.

(i) Drone Security Deployments Are Increasingly Common”, IFSEC Global,