Kings County Sheriff's Department is fighting crime from above

KINGS COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Kings County Sheriff's Department has an eye in the sky fighting crime from above. It's a new plane and it's currently flying test missions.

When Sky King 1 is in the air, it's quiet and hard to detect, "most people don't even know we're overhead," said Kings County Sheriff's Deputy, Jerry Hunter.

It's been flying under the radar all over Kings County, on test missions with a two-man crew. Deputy Hunter knows the plane inside and out; all the high-tech gadgets, the mapping system and the digital display,"it's also touch screen, in addition to tracking vehicles, we can also track people."

The tracking system is one of the main features. It locks on and the camera follows. The camera can also zoom out to see 5 city blocks and it can identify heat sources.

Deputy Hunter says, when it's flying and someone on the ground is up to no good, "we're probably gonna catch you."

At this point, there are just a few volunteer pilots, trained, on call and ready to fly at a moments notice. Jeff Stivers is one of them. He's also a retired Navy pilot, "it's a chance to give back but that's what it is, a chance to give back to the community," Stivers said.

The plane cost roughly half a million dollars. Mostly, because of the technology inside the cockpit. Sheriff' David Robinson says it's a lot of money but it's worth every penny, "we're going to be able to alleviate some response time issues," Robinson added.

The plane will also be used to assist firefighters and police officers all over the county.