News, deep dives, and analysis — every Drone as First Responder story, newest first.
League City Police Department plans to launch a Drone as First Responder program by December after city council approved a Motorola Solutions pilot agreement built around BRINC aircraft, with the first year free and a six-year contract value of up to $1,759,980 if the city keeps the program.
James City County, Virginia will begin dispatching AED-carrying drones to suspected cardiac arrest calls on August 1, starting a five-mile pilot around Fire Station 1 in Toano. The Duke- and VCU-led RESTORe-CARE study is expanding from North Carolina into a second live U.S. county program.
Ruston Police Department says its BRINC drone Patsy helped officers identify and arrest a fraud suspect in the agency’s first drone-assisted arrest, underscoring how Drone as First Responder programs are spreading into smaller U.S. departments.
Reno police used a BRINC Drone as First Responder aircraft to track an armed suspect through a 30-minute manhunt and guide officers to a calm arrest. The incident also shows how BRINC is competing for a growing share of the U.S. public-safety drone market.
North Charleston police demonstrated a Skydio X10 Drone as First Responder program they want to launch by July 2027, but funding still has to clear a December budget vote.
The Minneapolis City Council deadlocked 6-6, killing a free 75-day Skydio Drone as First Responder trial after members cited the company’s ties to ICE and the Israeli military, despite neighboring cities expanding similar programs.
BRINC has raised $125 million in a Motorola Solutions-led round that the Seattle company says will expand domestic manufacturing and help scale its vision of placing a 911 response drone on every police and fire station roof in the United States.
Montgomery County, Maryland, is pulling the human spotter off the rooftop. The county police department said on July 6 that it is rebuilding its Drone as First Responder program around docked Skydio X10 aircraft at six sites, and flying them beyond visual line of sight without the observer the old setup required. This was the…
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