Sheriff's office accepts state grant to add thermal drone and Bluetooth detection for search-and-rescue; Axon storage, training discussed

The Grand County Board of County Commissioners voted Feb. 3 to accept a state grant that will fund a thermal/infrared drone and a new civilian-market Bluetooth detection device intended to help locate missing or wandering persons.

Lieutenant Aaron Trainor of the Grand County Sheriff's Office described the $14,896 award from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and explained the Bluetooth unit mounts to a drone and can detect signals from phones, hearing aids and other devices. Trainor said the manufacturer lists ranges up to about 600 meters in ideal, line-of-sight conditions but that mountainous terrain and flight limitations will often reduce effective range.

"It's give or take, like, with our mountainous terrain," Trainor said, noting that deployment would be restricted to legitimate search-and-rescue or missing-person incidents and would not be randomly used.

Trainor also presented a contract amendment to add five DigiTicket licenses (the county remains the contract holder while Winter Park Police will pay for the new licenses), and he sought board approval for travel related to a subpoenaed sergeant's testimony in Provo, Utah, and for three staff to attend an Axon conference in Nashville. The board approved the grant acceptance, the DigiTicket amendment and the travel requests.

On digital evidence retention, Trainor told commissioners the county moved to an "unlimited storage" contract with Axon late in 2024 while still following Colorado State Archives retention guidelines; typical retention is a minimum of two years for most public contacts and longer for investigations tied to crimes, with lifetime retention for the most serious offenses.

The board approved related motions to accept grant funds, authorize contract amendments, and allow the travel as described by Trainor.