The recent use of a drone by the Barron County Sheriff to aid in locating the body of Dennis Meyer, the suspect in the recent murder-suicide in the Town of Round Lake, is the first time such an unmanned aircraft has been employed in a Sawyer County search. Sawyer County Search and Rescue member Mel VanWey owns drones and was asked to use his during the nighttime search for Meyer, but he declined because his drones do not have a thermal imaging camera and are unable to fly in the rain. Instead he suggested that Barron County be called because it has a drone with the thermal imaging sensors. Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald calls his department’s drone “Officer Safety.” Besides its successful deployment in Sawyer County, the drone has been used nearly 10 times in Barron County. In January the department used the drone on a homicide call to ensure a second floor apartment was unoccupied and was safe for the emergency response team to advance. “Officer Safety” was also used in an arson investigation to take photographs from the top of a building where the roof had collapsed.