New drone technology used by the Commerce City Police Department allows officers to pursue a suspect from above without the suspect even realizing they're being followed by law enforcement, making pursuits safer for everyone on the road.

The police department has used drones for years, but their Drone as First Responder program is brand new. It was launched Monday and on the third day its first-ever operation led to the safe arrest of a felon.

"Vehicle pursuit is very dangerous, it's one of the most dangerous things we do," said Commerce City police Sgt. Rick Irwin, who is part of the Real-Time Crime Center and Drone First Responder Program.

Irwin knows first hand how high-risk police chases are.

"With the public and the high speeds and the unpredictability of what's going to happen with the suspect," Irwin said.

When people are running from the police, they don't follow the same rules that officers do -- high speeds, dangerous moves, driving into oncoming traffic.

But a new tool is allowing police to follow at a lower risk, in a safer way.

"It's very exciting. The resource, the tool this brings to Commerce City is a big deal," said Commerce City police Commander Jeremy Jenkins, who oversees the drone program. "When we can utilize our drones to keep an eye on a stolen vehicle, it obviously increases the public safety because we're not engaging in a high-speed, risky vehicle pursuit in the community."

On Wednesday, Flock cameras flagged the license plate of a stolen motorcycle.

At only three days old, the Drone as First Responder team was tagged in. Drone pilot Irwin launched a drone from the Police Station and quickly spotted the stolen motorcycle, using the same skills in the sky that he learned as a patrol officer on the roads.

"At that point we told patrol, kind of back off, let us follow it, and followed it throughout the city for about 10 minutes. Watched the motorcycle as it stopped, got the guy getting off the motorcycle, coordinated with patrol and they were able to get him into custody," Irwin said.

At a mobile home park, officers arrested the suspect, who Commerce City police say is a convicted felon with multiple felony warrants for his arrest. He allegedly had heroin, meth and a stolen firearm on him.

"Especially so early into the program, getting a big win like that was good to see," Irwin said.

"Yesterday's arrest is a great example of how the utilization of available technology to law enforcement significantly increases, not only officer safety, but the mitigation of risk to the public when we're engaging in these high-risk arrests," Jenkins said Thursday.

Pursuits aren't the only time the Drone as First Responder program can be used.

"We can use it for anything from a SWAT operation to a stolen vehicle to attempting to locate a missing person... we can do large area searches in a quick amount of time," Jenkins said.

The officers say these drones will only be used as part of an ongoing crime.

"There are some very specific legal and ethical guidelines we operate under. Drones will only go based on a request from an officer or 911. The drones will never go up in proactive capacity or surveillance not attached to a crime," Jenkins said.

"It's not going to be like a Big Brother thing, overwatching, it's going to be responding to calls," Irwin said.

And despite the name, the drones won't replace police officers.

"A machine isn't going to be able to replicate human compassion and empathy, so there are a lot of times where human contact is absolutely vital," Jenkins said.

This program costs the city $150,000 a year. These drones are placed throughout Commerce City so they are ready to respond in an instant and can provide cover for the whole city.

The program is in its infancy, but if it continues to be successful, the department will likely expand it.