Twelve hours after receiving the drone, officers used it to help located a missing person from South Buffalo near Mercy Hospital. 

Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said the person walked out of the hospital and was considered a 'missing vulnerable person,' and the weather was cold and snowing that day.

The drone was put into action as police searched Cazenovia Park. "We just took delivery of that drone. We deployed the drone. It was driven down there. It was driven behind the pool area. The drone was launched and using infrared capabilities within a matter of a couple of minutes," said Gramaglia.

"They were able to identify an anomaly, a heat source through that infrared that led one of our drone operators to walk directly through that path and we located this missing vulnerable person," he said.  

Gramaglia said the person was on the ground with some leaves and was beginning to be covered with snow when he was found by officers. "We were able to walk him out of there and get him the aid that he needed. We may not have found that individual in time. Within 12 hours of taking delivery of this new tethered drone, it already proved its effectiveness," said Gramaglia.

The drone is housed with the Buffalo Police Department's SWAT unit, which has licensed drone operators. 

The department will soon be receiving in-car cameras for all marked vehicles, both dash-cam, outward facing cameras, and back seat cameras.