Police, fire, and search-and-rescue teams putting drones to work when minutes matter.
Boynton Beach is getting a police drone first responder program, but not without a fight over the bill. On June 16 the city commission approved an Axon drone package in a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Aimee Kelley the lone no after she questioned the timing of the purchase during early budget talks. The drones will…
Newport News, Virginia is about to start sending drones to 911 calls before officers or firefighters arrive, with some aircraft reaching a scene in under 90 seconds. The city has eight drones staged at four launch sites, ready to lift off after high-priority calls like a homicide, a shooting, a missing person, or a medical…
A drone pilot in Northern California spotted a shark circling a surfer on June 10, then used the aircraft itself to push the man out of the water before anything happened. Nick Bertocchini was flying over Seascape Beach in Aptos when the shark moved in behind a surfer named Rex and began to circle. Instead…
A Holly homeowner’s doorbell camera caught an 18-month-old boy walking alone past the 500 block of Elm Street at 11:54 a.m. on June 19, and within minutes Holly Police had Oakland County Sheriff’s Office drones and a K-9 team in the air and on the ground looking for him. The aerial search ran for the…
The Orlando Police Department activated its automated Drone as First Responder network on June 17, four months after council approved the $6.83 million contract amendment to deploy 11 Skydio drones across nine rooftop docks. The system is now responding live to 911 calls involving life-threatening situations, major property damage, and time-sensitive emergencies. Orlando is the…
A Bay County District Court jury has convicted Bay City digital creator Ray A. Rocha of interfering with a police search by flying his drone over the same airspace where Sheriff’s deputies were running their own search on November 10, 2024. The six-person jury delivered the verdict on May 1, 2026, and Judge Timothy J.…
The Normal Police Department will add a Flock Drone as First Responder unit to its existing six-drone fleet under a one-year pilot, after the Town of Normal Council approved the $50,000 purchase at its June 15 meeting. The seventh aircraft is the department’s first Flock platform and the first one in the fleet designed for…
Skydio CEO Adam Bry published a long-form article on X on June 8 making a direct case against the trend of building large quadcopters for Drone as First Responder (DFR) programs. His argument is not marketing. It is a physics-driven attack on the entire premise that a bigger drone with a bigger camera is the…
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