Police getting drones, car wash set to open

A Clinton resident’s $2,500 donation is helping the police department deploy drones to use in high-risk situations.

“We just want to use available technology to help us carry out our mission and do it in a little bit safer manner,” Clinton Police Chief Ford Hayman told the Clinton aldermen at their March 1 meeting.

Hayman has already seen the value of drones. About a year ago, Clinton police partnered with the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department to send up a drone to assist the SWAT team with a barricaded subject on the second floor of a local hotel.

“We had one of their certified pilots put their drone in the air, and were able to gain good intelligence for our SWAT team,” Hayman said.

Now, the Clinton Police Department is getting three drones of its own, and eight of its officers will undergo training at Hinds Community College so they can fly the drones.

“Each pilot has to go through an FAA test, which is the initial test, kind of like a driver’s license,” Hayman said, “to learn all the rules and comply.”

He says they want to start small, take the proper steps and learn what works best. Lt. Creston Berch will be in charge of the drone program.

Also at their Board meeting, the aldermen approved signage for Soap and Suds, which owner Kolby Sisson plans to renovate and open at the Hurricane Bay location on Old Vicksburg
Road, after the Board approved his signs. He says there’s a big clientele who prefer open bay, do-it-yourself car washes. And Sisson hopes to have the business open “before pollen season.”