Sacramento Police To Use Toy-Sized Remote Controlled Cars During Patrols

Sacramento police are bringing in an unlikely tool to crime scenes: electric toy-sized cars operated by remote controls.

The ground vehicles have cameras attached and would give officers views of a crime scene from a distance and could also help them avoid physical confrontations with suspects.

"It's something that could possibly be in the trunk of patrol cars at some point where every patrol team in the Sacramento Police department has one in their vehicle," John Azevedo with the Sacramento Police Department told ABC10.

The vehicles could also eventually carry items like stop sticks to help offices during chases.

“We don’t want that pursuit to continue," Acevedo said. "What we can do without breaking our cover and concealment is deliver that stop stick or multiple stop sticks under the suspect’s tires before he has the chance to take off again.”

Azevedo has been working on a fleet of these toy-sized ground vehicles and is getting ready to put them out in the field for testing.

Each vehicle costs under $500, reports ABC10.

Azevedo says the technology places Sacramento at the forefront of a new era in community policing.

“The more of these types of things that we can get out there, the safer our officers are going to be, the safer the public is going to be, and quite frankly, the suspect is going to be."

Photo: Getty Images