The Conroe Police Department in Texas launched a Drones as First Responders program this week paid for entirely by money seized from criminals.
Chief Jon Buckholtz announced the rollout at a press conference, confirming that the Conroe City Council authorized the purchase of two Skydio X10 drones and two docking stations in December 2025 using asset forfeiture funds. “We purchased this with money that was seized from criminals, in order to fight criminals,” Buckholtz said.
Conroe joins a growing list of American agencies betting on rooftop-docked autonomous response, and one of the few funding it without dipping into taxpayer general revenue. The initial deployment runs as a one-year trial. Expansion depends on what the data shows.
Asset Forfeiture Funding Sidesteps The Budget Fight
The funding model relies on Texas civil asset forfeiture law, which allows police departments to keep cash, vehicles, and property seized during criminal investigations after court approval. Conroe routed those funds toward equipment that would have otherwise competed with patrol cars or training budgets.
Last December, the Conroe City Council authorized two Skydio X10 drones and two docking stations using the forfeiture pool. The exact dollar figure was not disclosed at the press conference.
The choice to fund the program this way removes a political flashpoint. Departments that propose new surveillance hardware in tight municipal budgets often face pushback from council members and residents. Asset forfeiture sidesteps that fight. The money was never going to public services. It was always going to police equipment, and Conroe chose autonomous drones over the alternatives.
Civil asset forfeiture still draws steady criticism in Texas, where opponents question seizures that move forward without a criminal conviction. Conroe stepped around that debate by routing the money into equipment instead of operations.
Personally, I think this funding model is smart. When the program runs on seized assets, it never touches a county or municipal budget, and no public service loses a dollar so the drones can fly. Criminals fund the tool, taxpayers keep their money. I have no problem with that part.
The Response Time Math Conroe Cares About
Conroe’s current average response time for high-priority calls sits at four minutes and twenty-one seconds. Chief Pilot Nathan Crenshaw said a Skydio X10 dispatched from the City Hall rooftop dock arrives at the most trafficked sectors of the city in about two minutes.
The hardware backs the claim. Skydio X10 cruises at roughly 45 mph (72 km/h) in autonomous DFR mode, and a recent demonstration flew it from City Hall to Conroe PD headquarters, a distance of 2.7 miles (4.3 km), in about three minutes. The same drive in a patrol car takes nine to ten minutes through downtown traffic.
The X10 carries a thermal sensor and a high-resolution optical zoom payload capable of reading a license plate from 800 feet (244 m) away. For overnight calls or search and rescue across rural terrain, the thermal channel matters more than the optical. Conroe noted that lost children and silver alerts are part of the use case from day one.
Skydio’s Continued Push Into American Municipal Policing
As Conroe PD reported, this Conroe deployment adds to the pattern of American police departments adopting Skydio X10 over alternative airframes since federal procurement guidance pushed DJI off Blue UAS qualifying lists. Skydio holds the largest single share of the rooftop-docked autonomous response category in the United States.
Skydio reaches departments largely through Axon, the maker of the Taser and the body camera. Axon became Skydio’s exclusive public safety reseller in 2021 and expanded that into a full Drone as First Responder offering in 2024. When a department buys a Skydio drone in 2026, it typically arrives bundled with Axon evidence software and the body cameras and Tasers already in the field.
Skydio’s autonomy stack and weather-resistant airframe earn the X10 real field credit. DJI hardware at equivalent price points still outperforms the X10 on imaging quality and flight endurance per dollar. The X10 chooses autonomy and US supply chain over those traditional metrics, and federal procurement rules now reward that choice.
Transparency Portal And Privacy Controls
Buckholtz committed to publishing a transparency portal on the Conroe Police Department website that shows recent drone flight paths and explains the DFR program to residents. The page launches alongside the operational program and updates with each flight.
The X10 cameras are configured to focus on the horizon during transit flights rather than the ground below, a software setting that limits incidental capture of backyards and rooftops along the flight corridor. Conroe trained dispatchers receive each call and decide whether a drone deployment is warranted before any pilot takes over.
The department lists 13 FAA-certified Part 107 pilots cleared to operate the X10s. Skydio X10s include onboard parachutes for emergency descent. The parachute fires automatically when the airframe detects an uncommanded rapid descent.
Fire department access is part of the rollout. Conroe Fire Rescue receives a separate access link that shows the thermal stream, useful for identifying the heat source inside a burning structure before crews go in.
DroneXL’s Take
Strip away the press release language and the Conroe story is about who pays. A department that wants a two-minute drone response instead of a four-minute patrol car can buy it with money that already sat inside the criminal justice system. No new taxes. No budget fight. Buckholtz framed it cleanly and accurately. Criminals paid for the drones that will be used to catch criminals.
Another PD, another Skydio sale. There isn’t much more to say here. My usual take stands: if Skydio had real competition left on the Blue UAS list, it wouldn’t be landing these deals so easily. But that’s my opinion, not the opinion of the people signing the checks.
Watch the one-year review for whether Conroe expands the docks beyond City Hall. The transparency portal will show flight paths and dispatch volumes. Whether the department uses those numbers to broaden the program, hold it steady, or quietly cut it back is the signal the rest of the country should read.
Photo credit: Conroe PD
