CAMDEN – From afar, the drone's camera focused on Cooper University Hospital construction, zooming in on a backhoe until the operator's face was clear during a demonstration at Camden County Police Department headquarters this week.

Similar airborne drones were tethered 150 feet above the city's Fourth of July fireworks celebration and the San Juan Bautista Parade in late June, monitoring the crowd and traffic. At the fireworks celebration, the drones played a role in tracking a suspect who crashed a barrier on a moped and was later found to be armed.

And the CCPD's drone unit – less than a month old – on its first day tracked a car that fled Pennsauken police into Camden. Hundreds of feet above the street, the drone tracked the suspects running from the vehicle.

The drones, which cost

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