By Noreen Charlton
Recently, San Francisco voters, some of the most progressive in the nation, voted to equip the city’s police with drones and other advanced technology-based tools. As crime has increased, Bay Area citizens have decided that change is needed to help their first responders keep the San Francisco community safe. Passing Prop E in a city that has historically been restrictive of funding and technology for policing suggests a clear-eyed understanding of the challenges facing law enforcement and the promise of technology to fight crime and keep communities safe.
In 2022, 1,201 people, including both officers and members of the community, lost their lives in gun-related incidents between police and the public. I believe that many of those deaths could have been avoided had the responding officers simply had more information before arriving and while on the scene.
Body-worn cameras document what happened but they can rarely impact the outcome because they’re fundamentally designed to see what the officer can already see. Fixed security cameras can help, but they can’t be — and we don’t want them — everywhere. Autonomous drones change the paradigm. When used to respond to 911 calls — a concept known as Drone as First Responder or DFR — autonomous drones provide targeted situational awareness exactly when and where it’s needed, offering better information about the scene prior to an officer arriving. With more information, officers can reduce the risk within a dangerous situation for themselves, those involved, and bystanders. Furthermore, the additional real-time detail of a scene enables better prioritization of calls and resource allocation.
In the U.S., there are about 18,000 law enforcement agencies, and approximately 1,500 of them currently have a drone program. Despite all the positive impacts that exist from drone programs today, less than 10% of agencies have a program. At scale, DFR programs will be one of the most positive and impactful technology-driven changes to the safety of our cities ever.
Agencies are already implementing drones; they’re starting with smaller specialized units that are focused on specific tasks like SWAT operations, crash and crime scene documentation, and search and rescue missions.
Police departments looking to implement a DFR program will find a multitude of benefits by deploying them on daily calls for services. Here are just a few reasons as to why police departments should implement a Drone as First Responder program:
- Response times: Drones can arrive on scene in seconds rather than minutes, go into dangerous situations ahead of people, increase transparency by creating a clear aerial perspective, and provide better information for first responders to make better decisions and get better outcomes. These smart flying robots are a key component to safer, more effective policing in the US and they should be deployed at scale now.
- Community safety: Drones in law enforcement result in increased safety for communities and first responders. Studies have found that shorter response times result in greater probability of arrests or clearing of incidents. A successful drone program will enable a drone to respond in 90 seconds or less, increasing the probability of arrests. Likewise, drones enable law enforcement to get eyes on dangerous and uncertain situations quickly, which can be live-streamed to police supervisors who cannot be onsite. Data shows that incidents of use of force are decreased when a supervisor is on scene or has real-time information and can support responding officers.
- Efficiency: DFR programs also increase efficiency. Agencies using drones report 20%-30% of calls being resolved without needing to send an officer when a drone arrives first. This enables agencies to deploy their officers more effectively and safely and have them focus on the most impactful work.
- Reduced use of force: Deploying a drone to the scene as the first responder can remove the fear of the unknown as officers enter potentially dangerous — or not — situations. There is no shortage of real-world examples of responses that ended badly because of a lack of information in extremely tense and adrenaline-fueled engagements. Drones can relay critical information to officers en route that is key to either de-escalating a situation or confirming the need for more support.
Like any powerful tool distributed at scale to many different users, drone technology does pose risks. Concerns over surveillance and invasions of privacy are not without merit. This is why public safety agencies must have clear and robust protocols within their drone programs that ensure accountability, transparency and the protection of privacy and civil liberties. The most successful agency drone programs are already doing this by publishing records of their drone usage and sharing their operating principles. This proactive work gives citizens insight into the capabilities and uses of drones and builds trust with the community.
Starting this year, drones will deploy automatically from the rooftops of buildings in select cities, their flight initiated by the sound of gunfire detected by sensors placed in high-incident neighborhoods. This means the drone will be in flight, autonomously, before a 911 call has even been made. The technology is still early in its lifecycle, with some of the most impactful products yet to come. For example, you can imagine small drones on top of first responder vehicles that deploy automatically as an officer steps out of their car, using AI to track the officer and provide an aerial perspective. This way, every officer would have a flying AI aerial assistant to help change outcomes for the better.
I believe human judgment and empathy are irreplaceable, but I also believe in a future where AI-driven robots work alongside humans to help maximize and preserve that which is uniquely human. Today, when we hear sirens and see flashing lights, we know someone is in trouble and that help is on the way. Very soon, I envision a world where, when we see a drone flying overhead, we know that someone is in trouble and that a drone as a first responder is on the way to help.
About the author
Noreen Charlton is the Sr. Manager Public Safety Marketing for Skydio. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. For more than a decade, she worked in the Crime Scene Investigations section of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in Las Vegas, Nevada. Throughout her time in the field, she responded to nearly 4,000 scenes, including the Route 91 Harvest Festival mass casualty shooting. For several years, she has focused on the instruction and implementation of 3D technologies for public safety applications and has assisted with the documentation and forensic analysis of many high-profile cases. As a member of the Crime Scene Investigations Body of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Standards Board, she actively contributes to the development and advancement of industry standards in crime scene investigations.
WATCH: Drones are not just for stunning aerial shots anymore; they’re on the front lines of modern policing. From tracking suspects to aiding in emergency responses, this video covers the diverse roles drones play in law enforcement today.