CLEBURNE, Texas -- Police in Cleburne are investigating the theft of multiple drones and other expensive camera equipment used by law enforcement.
The gear was stolen late last week from Johnson County Emergency Management Director Jamie Moore's vehicle, which was parked at his Cleburne home in his driveway overnight.
"They targeted my vehicle for sure," said Moore. "I don't think they knew what they would find."
He said he discovered the theft Friday morning when his kids walked out the door and saw the doors of his red SUV left open. He said the thieves took most of the technology that was stored inside.
"We're right at the $30,000-mark in technology stolen out of this vehicle," Moore said.
Some of the gear was his own personal camera equipment, but much of it was owned by Johnson County, including multiple state-of-the-art drones.
As Emergency Management Director, Moore has been a leader in law enforcement drones. WFAA has profiled his work in the past, deploying drones across North Texas and beyond in rescue operations, missing persons cases and other situations.
This fall, his drones were deployed in response to Hurricane Harvey and in the search for Sherin Mathews. This theft, Moore said, is a setback.
"It's more than just stuff. This is somebody's life," he said. "And they just took away our ability to deal with that, and that's extremely frustrating."
Moore is working with Cleburne police to investigate the theft. He is hopeful that whoever is responsible will be apprehended, and some of the gear returned, but he says it should be a wakeup call to everyone about how vehicles can become targets.
"Especially around Christmas time, when you see an increase in vehicle thefts," he said.
Moving forward, Moore said he will not keep his personal camera equipment in his vehicle again, but he does not have that luxury for some of the drone equipment, which needs to be ready to go.
Instead, he's having a new custom security system installed on his truck.
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