LEWES, Del.- The Lewes Police Department is using new technology in this new normal.

The police department has a drone that flies over bike trails and the beach. If it sees people walking too close, it broadcasts a message reminding them of the state of emergency and social distancing guidelines.

"We've had quite a bit, as you can imagine, shocked bikers and pedestrians but it's been really effective," explained Lewes Police Chief Thomas Spell. "It accomplishes a couple missions for us: it allows us to communicate that mission widely and it also helps protect our officers so we are not actually person to person enforcing that."

Spell says the department also uses the drone at busy holiday events and could use it in things like search and rescue missions, as it's equipped with heat sensing technology. It may be used in the future to enforce out-of-state quarantine protocols as well.

"We haven't used it to do a car stop of an out-of-state vehicle yet but we may at some point try that," Spell said. "Actually stop the car with the real police officer and fly the drone up near the window to announce the out-of-state quarantine restrictions the governor has put in place."

Spell says Lewes police officers are also placing flyers on out-of-state cars reminding them of Gov. John Carney's executive order and has placed flyers in restaurants with COVID-19 health suggestions as well.