Santa Monica uses police drone to catch car burglar in the act

Santa Monica Police spotted and stopped a man who was burglarizing vehicles in a parking lot near the pier by using a drone.

On July 6, a Santa Monica police officer was directing the department's drone back to the station from a radio call when the officer decided to survey the Fourth of July weekend crowd near the pier and the nearby parking lots.

As the drone flew over Lot 1 North, the parking lot next to the pier, he noticed a man wandering the lot, according to a video the department posted on their YouTube account .

"As [the pilot] watched, the subject approached an unoccupied parked vehicle, pulled out tools from his sweatshirt and quickly punched open the lock of the driver's side door," the department said in the video.

The drone footage shows the suspected burglar break the lock of the driver's side door of a black SUV then climb into the car.

He stayed in the car for about two minutes, the department said.

While the man was inside the vehicle, the drone pilot called for officers to respond to the location.

But before they arrived, the alleged burglar got out of the SUV and broke the lock of another vehicle, police said.

"The pilot was able to guide responding officers to the correct aisle in the parking lot where they found the alleged burglar in possession of multiple stolen items and placed him under arrest for vehicle burglary and various other theft-related crimes," the department said.

The department's drone is part of a First Responder Program that uses a sworn officer pilot to fly the drone and can assist responding officers on scene by checking for suspects fleeing the area and give a direction of travel.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .