Drone-as-first-responder programs, pursuit footage, evidence policy, and the departments putting UAS on patrol.
The St Paul Police Department’s new dock-based Drone as First Responder program flew 472 missions in its first four weeks, already passing the 436 patrol-drone flights the department logged in all of 2025. The three rooftop Skydio X10 drones went live on May 30 and now reach calls in under 90 seconds, a number St…
The Irvine Police Department’s Drone as First Responder program ended a Walmart shoplifting case the same way it ends most calls these days, with the suspect on the ground and an aircraft watching from above. Officers arrested Guillermo Hazael Martinez Diaz, 26, on June 24 after a DFR drone tracked him from the store to…
Hayward has approved an expanded Drone as First Responder program for 911 calls, putting eight new drones into a Bay Area policing model that promises faster scene awareness while raising familiar questions about privacy, protests, and how far “reactive” drone use can stretch before it starts looking proactive. Hayward Moves Drones Ahead Of Officers Hayward’s…
A junior mining company just used a drone to map a Nevada tungsten property that nobody had explored since the 1950s. Western Star Resources, trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange as WSR, said on June 22 it is running a high-resolution drone magnetic survey across the White Star Tungsten Project in the Charleston Mining District…
The Chino Police Department will put several drones over residential neighborhoods this Fourth of July and pair them with 65 officers dedicated to illegal fireworks enforcement, a sharp expansion of a program the city ran with a single aircraft a year ago. Each drone flies with a two-person crew, a pilot and an observer, with…
A Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office pilot flew a consumer FPV drone into a garage, found a barricaded parolee holding a knife, and pulled the blade out of his hand with a magnet before any deputy stepped into the room. The agency calls it a nationwide first. The aircraft that did it is a DJI Avata…
The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office is about to get its own fleet of 911 response drones. The county is finalizing a deal with Motorola Solutions to run a Drone as First Responder program built on BRINC hardware, the same setup the Porterville City Council already approved for its police department. The Tulare County Board of…
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…
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