It's not going to win an Academy Award, but it's already winning praise. And, hopefully, it will help the Abilene Police Department win the recruiting game.

On July 21, at the graduation ceremony for Class 59 of APD's police academy class, a roughly 3½-minute video debuted. It showed APD headquarters, a former Kmart stored renovated in August 2019. But more importantly to project leader Sgt. John Ramirez, it shows off the people and what the department does.

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The entire video was shot using a drone. The video begins in the parking lot, enters and exits the building, and ends with the viewer flying into the back of the SWAT van.

It's a bit of a thrill ride, as the drone speeds along through open doors, through weight equipment and tightly around corners.

And it all began with Ramirez watching a 2021 segment of HBO's "Hard Knocks," which featured the Cowboys training facility, The Star, in Frisco.

After watching the "Hard Knocks" segment, Ramirez, a 16½-year APD officer who came north from San Angelo, had two thoughts.

First, how cool would it be to have the APD's facility showcased with a drone video?

Second, we could do it even better.

"It instantly made an impression on me. I watched it 100 times," said Ramirez, who is an Air Force veteran. "It set my mind racing ... how neat would it be to showcase our new facility."

Assistant Chief Doug Wrenn, a Cowboys fan as is Ramirez, also saw the segment. He agreed something similar would be great for APD.

The Star is impressive but it is largely empty of people. For example, a fly-through the weight room shows no one working out.

"I wanted to showcase the people if we could. I thought we could improve on that," he said.

Sssshhhh. Don't let Jerry Jones hear.

Ramirez pitched his idea to Chief Marcus Dudley Jr.

"He was all in," Ramirez said.

Ramirez did but realized what he envisioned exceeded capabilities.

Dudley gave him the green light to pursue the effort further. Swing for the fences, as they say in baseball.

So Ramirez did. He contacted the company that did the Cowboys drone video.

That's Sky Candy Studios, a video production company located in Minneapolis.

The sergeant went right to the top, talking to owner and chief operator Michael Welsh.

APD is not the boys in silver and blue, but would they be interested in doing a drone project for The Blue?

Welsh said his company never had worked with first responders, so he was interested.

Details were worked out - APD had funding for the project, Ramirez said - and Welsh and a scout planned to come to Abilene on July 5.

Ramirez first had homework to do.

If the video comes across as highly organized, well, it was.

A lot of that fell to Ramirez, who designed the drone route so that all functions of the department could be shown.

While police officers are familiar with tactical efforts, this was something on a large scale.

Also, it would not be done over days.

It would be done in one day.

Ramirez assembled 100 sworn and civilian staff to be at APD at 6 a.m. on July 6, a Wednesday.

He did not say if doughnut were ordered.

Setup came first - not only were people needed, but police dogs, horses for the mounted officers and specialized equipment, such as bomb squad and APD's own drone. That briefly created more air traffic than Abilene Regional Airport.

The video was organized into three segments:

The video ends there, begging the question: How do you stop a fast-flying drone in an enclosed space?

Ramirez laughed and said it did crash into personnel. Several times because retakes were needed. But no one was hurt, and the drone survived.

Where was Welsh and his assitant?

Sitting comfortably inside at a table, wearing virtual reality goggles. They guided the drone from there, not tiny pilots.

One shot was stolen - OK, this is the police, so let's say "borrowed" - from the Cowboys video. The drone flies through upright weight equipment while it's being used. That drew ooohs and aaahs when shown at the academy graduation.

Ramirez said Welsh was quite pleased at how the project turned out. And while he had not done a first-responder project, the next one after Abilene was for firefighters back in Minnesota.

He's not sure but Ramirez believes the Welsh gave Abilene the Rodgers' rate.

Coordination was key. There were re-dos - it was inevitable timing would be off somewhere. And it was hard not to look at the drone, which Welsh did not want.

And while most of the action was set up, the flight through the 911 center was not. Those folks were on duty.

It was a lot of work for 3 minutes and 32 seconds.

The video was posted Friday on APD's site.

It was be used for recruiting - gone are the days when glowing text, statistics and still pictures inspire, said Ramirez, whose roles at APD include recruiting.

With the video, "people can see us. They can see the faces behind the badge," he said.

It can shown at police presentations, and maybe on a loop at city sites.

Ramirez is a proud papa. Twice over, in fact.

Early on, in the lobby, the drone circles an officer and a child. That's Ramirez and his daughter, Wylie ISD second-grader Landri (dad is a Cowboys fan!)

He didn't plan to be in the video but wanted to show police-youngster interaction. It was suggested he be the officer. He countered he would if his daughter joined him.

Asked what she wanted to be when she grows up, Landri points to female officer mannequin and says, "I want to be like her."

Dad was asked about doing another drone video next year.

"No way," he said, smiling. He hopes its usefulness maybe outlasts him, and he's not going anywhere.

Greg Jaklewicz is editor of the Abilene Reporter-News and general columnist. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.