The Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office uses drones that run a special color recognition program used in missing person cases.

It’s part of a new approach in the county to find possible clues in the woods when someone goes missing.

“When we’re in rescue mode — boots on the ground, canine, foot searches, fixed wing, but then as time goes on, maybe we need to do some data collection, we need to map an area,” Earl said Bakke, a volunteer drone pilot with ScenePhoto360 who assisted the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office during a recent search.

Bakke launches a drone that hovers over the search area, taking photos of the specific area.

Once it lands, the drone’s images are analyzed by a special computer program – which looks for a unique color down to the pixel.

Bakke sets the program to look for a color – often from a missing person’s clothes.

Last month, the drone took more than 5,8000 photos in a search with law enforcement in Aitkin County.

Crews have been trying to find clues from a 23-year-old woman who went missing in Savanah Portage State Park.

“It’s doing math. That’s it – every color has a profile,” said Bakke.

If the program is affected by color, the information can be relayed to researchers on the ground so they can check an area for clues.

Aitkin County Sheriff Dan Guida said this new technology is part of their search efforts. “The thought of losing somebody is horrible,” said Aitkin County Sheriff Dan Guida. “My search and rescue teams are some of the most dedicated in the state of Minnesota.”

The Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team operates its own drone that collects images that can be analyzed for clues. Earlier this year, Bakke’s drone found red in the jacket of a missing man and helped other authorities locate the remains in the woods of northern Minnesota.