Drone thwarts break-ins at beach parking lot, California police say. See it

A drone on its way back home stopped to do a little police work and ended up helping bust an accused vehicle burglar, California officers reported.

A police drone video recorded July 6 shows the drone flying over a parking lot at the Santa Monica Pier and beach, an Instagram post said.

The pilot, a sworn officer, routed the drone over the parking lot on its way back to the police station following another incident, police said.

The drone zooms in on a man walking through the lot checking out vehicles. He pulls out a screwdriver and another tool to punch out the lock on a parked SUV, the video shows.

He climbs inside to ransack the vehicle, the video shows.

Meanwhile, the drone operator notified patrol officers, who responded to the lot, police said.

The accused burglar then broke into a pickup truck, police said.

The video shows two police trucks enter the lot and corner the man, who surrenders with his hands up.

Officers arrested him on a charge of vehicle burglary, police said.

Santa Monica is about a 15-mile drive west of downtown Los Angeles.