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Sep 10

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Skydio X10 drone resting on a rooftop dock with the dome of the Cathedral of Saint Paul out of focus behind it

Minnesota · DFR

St. Paul Pulls $200K Police Drone Grant. There Was No Plan B

St. Paul's council withdrew a $200,000 grant request for more police drones a week after the deputy chief said there was no other money to expand.

Haye KestelooSep 105 min read

Saint Paul skyline and Mississippi River seen from the West Side neighborhood

DFR

St. Paul Votes on Police Drones Two Days After Pond Rescue

St. Paul's council decides Wednesday whether police can chase a $200,000 federal grant for more drones. Two members have already said no.

Haye KestelooSep 9

Skydio X10 drone used in a public safety Drone as First Responder program

MINNEAPOLIS VOTE

Skydio loses Minneapolis DFR contract on 6-6 council vote over ICE and Israel ties

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.

Haye KestelooJul 17

Ronald Statz, the 73-year-old man found alive in a Stearns County cornfield

Search & Rescue

St. Cloud Drone Finds Missing Man After Air Search Fails

A St. Cloud police drone found 73-year-old Ronald Statz alive in a Stearns County cornfield after a dozen agencies, including a State Patrol plane and a DNR helicopter, searched for hours.

Haye KestelooJul 13

Thermal camera view from a Minneapolis police drone during the search for Bob Stewart

Search & Rescue

Minneapolis Police Drone Finds Lost Veteran in 9 Minutes

A Minneapolis police drone's thermal camera located 82-year-old veteran Bob Stewart in a creek ravine in nine minutes, after a three-and-a-half-hour ground search came up empty — footage the department released as the City Council weighs a 75-day Skydio Drones as First Responders trial.

Rafael SuárezJul 13

Skydio

Minnesota Logged 9,080 Police Drone Flights in 2025

Minnesota just published something no other state hands its residents: an itemized receipt for every police drone program inside its borders. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s 2025 Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles report counts 9,080 warrantless flights across 135 agencies, up 38% in a year, and the Rochester Police Department leads them all. Rochester flew…

Rafael SuárezJul 7

Skydio

Arvada’s Skydio X10 DFR Catches Target Shoplifter

Arvada Police Department in Colorado used its new Skydio X10 Drone First Responder program on June 17, 2026 to track and arrest a shoplifting suspect who fled on foot from a Target store, the agency confirmed in a statement. The drone was already airborne when the call came in. A loss prevention officer at the…

Rafael SuárezJun 27

Skydio

St Paul Police Logged 472 DFR Flights in Four Weeks

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…

Rafael SuárezJun 26

Minnesota

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