Today, Skydio is pleased to announce the nation’s first study of Drone as First Responder (DFR) operations. The metrics of these modern DFR programs showcase how drones are being used to increase apprehensions, ensure officer and community safety, and provide powerful de-escalation response strategies through increased situational awareness.
Study methodology
To complete this study, we analyzed data from representative agencies that reflect different types of jurisdictions, including large metropolitan and suburban cities as well as rural counties. We reviewed a fixed 60-day range of DFR flights conducted between September 15, 2024 and November 14, 2024. For the purposes of this study, DFR flights are defined as being operated within Skydio DFR Command (the software used to start, run, and grow DFR programs), with most drones launched from rooftops throughout the jurisdiction. The flights were all initiated from a call for service (CFS), a call for officer assistance, or in reaction to a triggering event such as an Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) hit. (Note: these will all be generally referred to as calls for service/CFS.) The result was a population of 1,779 flights.
Let’s dig into the notable findings.
DFR flights support many types of CFS
These DFR operations supported a myriad set of incident types. The most common type of calls involved burglary, retail theft, vehicle theft and robbery of a person. In these instances, the drone was dispatched to capture the suspect’s location while responding officers were en route. With a drone arriving in less than 2 minutes and able to guide officers to the suspect, many were successfully apprehended.
The second most common CFS drones responded to were assaults, domestic disturbances, or a person displaying a weapon in a threatening manner. In these instances, drones provided information critical to the response tactic, including confirming if a weapon was present.
Many drone responses in these first two categories included a vehicle or foot pursuit. The aerial perspectives enabled responding officers to discontinue their ground pursuit, increasing safety for those in the community. The suspects, unaware the drone was following them, eventually stopped running and were apprehended safely and effectively shortly thereafter. Other CFS included narcotics surveillance, reports of shots fired, emotionally disturbed persons, search and rescue, and one more, perhaps surprising, type.
Keeping officers safe is a common reason to send a drone
Officers are directly requesting drones to be dispatched to their location to provide additional layers of safety. Most agencies don’t have easy access to helicopter support and there is a high bar to justify one. However, the per-flight cost of a drone is negligible in comparison, and agencies felt comfortable allowing officers to access this type of air support whenever they needed it.
Skydio and Axon have partnered to enable dispatching a drone directly to an officer’s body-worn camera location with just one click in DFR Command. The drone operator can then support the officer in requesting additional officers, tracking a subject, calling for medical help, and more. Acting as a force multiplier and keeping officers safe are powerful benefits of DFR, especially as many agencies operate below budgeted staffing levels.
Across agencies, an average of 17% of all CFS required more than one drone flight
In our study, on average 1/6th of each agency’s CFS required time on scene longer than any one quadcopter - of any type - can provide.
Taking eyes off the scene by flying the drone back to its launch point for a battery swap can create tremendous risk for all involved, potentially indefensible gaps in evidence capture, and diminishes the value of your DFR program. On-station relief and on-scene drone swapping ensures critical mission and livestream continuity by keeping at least one drone on the scene until it can be relieved by another before heading to the dock for charging. A perfect example of this was a search and rescue conducted by Las Vegas Metro Police that took four hours!
Agencies should prepare and account for multiple flights to support a good portion of their CFS. Continuous overwatch may be crucial in locating and tracking subjects, maintaining perimeters for increased apprehensions, and providing safety for officers, suspects, and the community. Skydio’s unique Hive model for Dock-based DFR programs is architected to serve the demands of responding to multiple CFS simultaneously, while providing on-station relief, ensuring officer and community safety throughout. Hives are locations with multiple docking stations co-located such that drones can be dispatched concurrently.
28% of all flights were conducted to relieve an existing drone on scene
More than a quarter of all flights supported CFS requiring longer time on scene. On-station relief was a very large portion of flights as these calls needed extended overwatch or subject tracking. Sending a second drone helps ensure no responding officer is left at risk. Each drone’s average flight time is between 30-40 minutes (based on a combination of battery life and flight conditions), and many calls simply take longer to resolve.
For agencies with 24x7 operations, 58% of all DFR flights were conducted overnight
Most of the nation’s early drone programs operate a fixed set of hours, typically early afternoon to late evening. However, when rolled out 24x7, it is very clear the biggest value is overnight. Our study found that in these always-on operations, 58% of all flights happen between 8pm and 8am, correlating with typical patterns of CFS volume.
Yet, most drones are not designed for effective night operations.
Skydio is the only manufacturer with onboard NightSense autonomy, delivering obstacle avoidance and autonomous flight in zero- and low-light conditions. This ensures confident flight during the hours that matter the most and when conditions are most dangerous. And with Skydio’s FLIR Boson+ radiometric thermal camera, capturing critical information even in the darkest of night is easy.
We’ll be sharing more insights from this study and others in the future.
But well beyond any metrics, the thing that matters the most is the success agencies are having in keeping officers and communities safe with DFR. In addition to those noted above, here’s a few more samples of what agencies have accomplished:
- San Francisco Police Arrest 3 Armed Auto Burglars
- Oklahoma City Police Respond to Active Shooter at Night
- Las Vegas Metro Police Rescues Lost Hiker at Night
- Akron Police Safely Arrest Burglars in a Pursuit at Night
- Tulsa Fire Department Battles Large Chemical Fire
See more customer success stories here.
