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

It’s part of a new approach in the county to finding 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 the time goes on, we maybe need to do some data collection, we need to map an area,” said Earl Bakke, a volunteer drone pilot with ScenePhoto360, who helped Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office during a recent search.

Bakke launches a drone that hovers above the search area, taking pictures of the specific area.

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

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

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

The teams tried to find clues from a 23-year-old woman who went missing in Savanah Portage State Park.

“It’s doing mathematics. That’s all this is — every color has a profile,” Bakke said.

If the program gets a hit on the color — the information can then be relayed to the searchers 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 someone is horrible,” said Sheriff Dan Guida, Aitkin County. “My search and rescue crews are some of the most dedicated in the state of Minnesota.”

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