The Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD) employs drones for traffic accident reconstruction and investigation, among other use cases.

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There are several other drones out there that can be used by law enforcement—here are some common characteristics to look for when vetting a drone for police work.

Extended flight times and transmission ranges are critical for covering large areas and prolonged operations. Drones like the DJI Matrice 350 RTK offer flight times up to 55 minutes and transmission ranges up to 9.3 miles, allowing for extensive surveillance, suspect pursuit, and monitoring without frequent battery changes​.

High-resolution cameras on drones capture detailed evidence in various investigations, including illegal dumping, wildlife crimes, and property damage.

As drone technology has become more prevalent, it’s also become more specialized. And with that specialization we’ve seen drones and supporting software developed specifically for the needs of several types of jobs, including law enforcement.

The NYPD’s drones provide a live feed to command centers, helping officers monitor crowd movements, identify potential hazards, and respond quickly to incidents. In 2024, the NYPD launched its own DFR program, which deploys drones to the scene of gunshots as soon as they’re detected by a system called ShotSpotter.

As part of the IPP, CVPD received special FAA approval to fly drones BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight), which is otherwise prohibited under the Part 107 rules.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous flight capabilities are becoming increasingly common in police drones. These technologies enable drones to navigate complex environments, avoid obstacles, and conduct missions with minimal human intervention. Skydio is known for its autonomy—its Skydio X2 has advanced AI for obstacle avoidance and autonomous flight, making it ideal for dynamic and challenging scenarios​.

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In this article we’ll take a deep dive into law enforcement drones, covering what a police drone is, the history of drones in law enforcement, the top police drones on the market, the different ways police use drones, and more.

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After Hurricane Harvey, drones were deployed to assess damage, locate stranded individuals, and survey flood-affected areas. The aerial imagery provided by drones helped in coordinating rescue operations and allocating resources effectively, contributing to a more efficient response effort​.

It should be noted that even though almost all devices can store several pairings, they can't necessarily connect to more than one of these at once.

In one notable case, a drone equipped with thermal imaging was used to locate a suspect hiding in a dark, enclosed area. The drone’s live feed allows officers to approach and apprehend the suspect without putting themselves at unnecessary risk.

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Drones assist in tracking and apprehending fugitives by providing aerial views of search areas, reducing the risk to officers and increasing the chances of a successful capture.

The Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) has been at the forefront of integrating drones into law enforcement work for years.

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Equipped with thermal imaging and high-resolution cameras, drones help locate missing persons, including children and vulnerable adults, in challenging terrains and adverse weather conditions.

And there are so many uses for cop drones that they can vary widely in size and capability, ranging from small quadcopters to larger, more sophisticated hexacopters with extended flight times and broader payload capacities.

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Despite regulatory hurdles making them hard to launch, DFR programs have been slowly growing throughout police departments in the U.S.

By the end of 2016—just three years after Mesa’s foray into the use of drones for public safety work—about 350 public safety agencies had acquired drones, including 167 police departments. These early drone programs focused primarily on traffic accident reconstruction, surveillance, and monitoring large events.

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These programs have been particularly effective in urban areas, where traffic congestion and complex environments can delay traditional response times.

The Mesa Sheriff’s early adoption led the way for the use of drones by law enforcement elsewhere, showcasing the value drones could provide public safety operations by providing aerial perspectives that were otherwise difficult or even impossible to obtain.

Drones monitor traffic flow, identify congestion points, and assist in managing traffic during peak hours or major events, improving overall traffic management.

Here are the top five police drones on the market, including information on their primary use cases, price range, supply chain  details, and key features.

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But as an overview, drones provide law enforcement with a bird’s-eye view of unfolding situations in real time, allowing officers to gather critical information without putting themselves in harm’s way.

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In SWAT operations or hostage situations, SWAT drones—another term for a police drone—provide crucial intelligence on suspect locations and movements, enabling safer and more strategic decision-making.

Yes, this is a feature on some devices of this kind. Sometimes labeled "multipoint", this is a feature whereby a single Bluetooth headset or headphones can connect to more than one host device, and either of those may send audio to it or conduct phone calls over it.

Since then, more and more police departments have started drone programs. As of 2022, over 1,000 police departments in the United States had adopted drone technology.

Bluetooth also uses less power than Wifi. It was designed with small battery-powered devices in mind such as computer mice and keyboards. Since Bluetooth version 4.0, a new feature called Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) enables some types of Bluetooth devices to run on even smaller amounts of power or last for a much longer time on a single set of batteries.

Drones patrol borders and coastal areas, identifying and tracking suspicious vessels or individuals involved in drug trafficking or smuggling activities.

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In hazardous environments like chemical spills or collapsed buildings, drones gather critical information without putting officers at risk, ensuring their safety while obtaining necessary data.

Drones provide real-time aerial views of large areas, helping officers monitor public events, track suspects, and gather intelligence without being detected.

According to the FAA, the number of drones used by public safety agencies will be over 30,000 by 2025, representing a growth of 300% from the 10,000 in use by PSAs in 2020.

The approval to operate BVLOS was a game-changer, allowing CVPD to deploy drones over a wider area without requiring a visual observer to maintain line of sight with the drone. This capability significantly expanded the operational range of its drones, enhancing their effectiveness in responding to emergencies and providing situational awareness.

Police drones are designed to withstand harsh environments and adverse weather conditions. Models like the DJI Matrice 350 RTK and Parrot ANAFI USA feature rugged, weather-resistant designs with high IP ratings, ensuring reliable performance in rain, wind, and extreme temperatures.

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After natural disasters, drones assess damage, identify hazards, and help coordinate response efforts, ensuring efficient use of resources and faster recovery.

Want to learn more about how public safety agencies are using drones? Check out our in-depth guide, What Is a Public Safety Drone?

Aerial imagery from drones helps document crime scenes comprehensively, preserving evidence and providing detailed perspectives that ground-based photos might miss.

Bluetooth is a type of wireless communication for use over short distances between devices. This "short distance" is key to understanding where Bluetooth fits in the scheme of wireless protocols - it's designed for covering smaller smaller areas that Wi-fi does, such as "in the same room", "on the same desk" or even "worn on the same person". While Bluetooth can in cases communicate over longer distances, reliability of communication typically drops off after distances of over 10m / 30ft in open space, and more quickly if it has to travel through objects such as walls, furniture or even the human body.

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But it wasn’t until the mid-2010s that drone technology became widely accessible and affordable for police departments. Initially, military-grade drones were the primary models available, but advancements in commercial drone technology have since led to a broader range of options for public safety agencies (PSAs).

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Thermal imaging is crucial for operations in low-visibility conditions, such as nighttime or in smoke and fog. Drones like the DJI Mavic 3 Thermal and Skydio X2 are equipped with thermal sensors that detect heat signatures, allowing officers to locate suspects, missing persons, or hazardous materials that aren’t visible to the naked eye.

This innovative program was developed as part of the FAA’s UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP), which aimed to test and evaluate the integration of drones into national airspace.

This creates challenges due to the way Bluetooth audio or Bluetooth headsets work. Devices which support multipoint are essentially working as if they are two devices, each one connected to a different host. But, they can only play audio from one at a time, or conduct a phone call from one at a time. The device itself has to be able to respond to an incoming call or playback request from one device while still doing something with the other device, overriding the other device - and perhaps even priority must be taken into account: one device shouldn't be able to interrupt a phone call from the other device, but may be able to interrupt music playback with a phone call.

Drones help detect and monitor illegal activities such as poaching, illegal logging, and unauthorized land use, providing valuable evidence for prosecutions.

These days, police drones—also known as cop drones or law enforcement drones—have become indispensable tools in modern policing.

Bluetooth pairing is a two-way, permanent association between two Bluetooth devices. When two Bluetooth devices are "paired" it means both devices "remember" each other, storing the other's unique codes in its own table of pairings so that the other device can be uniquely identified as being a device it is "safe" to connect to. Pairing information is stored on both devices, and remembered even after turning them off and on again, so that next time they are in range of each other they can find each other and know that it's safe to connect.

Real-time video transmission provides instant situational awareness to officers on the ground. Drones equipped with this capability, such as the BRINC LEMUR 2, can stream live footage to command centers, enabling real-time decision-making and coordination during emergencies and tactical operations.

Devices that are intended as peripherals, such as keyboards, mice and headsets, are usually limited to only being able to connect to one "host" device at a time. Once connected, it will stay connected while that device is in range even if other paired devices come into range. This creates a phenomena whereby your Bluetooth headset or other device will only connect to the first host device it sees, and ignores connection opportunities or requests from other devices as long as this first device is in range.

A few years back, officers used drones after a major traffic collision to capture detailed aerial imagery of the scene, which was then used to create accurate 3D models to investigate the cause of the crash. This process significantly reduced the time required for on-site investigation, minimizing traffic disruptions and allowing the road to reopen more quickly.

Drones like the Parrot ANAFI USA and BRINC LEMUR 2 come with loudspeakers and two-way communication systems, allowing police officers to broadcast messages or communicate directly with individuals on the ground. This feature is particularly useful for crowd control, hostage negotiations, and disaster response​.

Drones capture detailed aerial images of accident scenes, allowing investigators to reconstruct incidents accurately and efficiently, minimizing road closures and disruptions.

Equipped with loudspeakers, drones disseminate important information to the public during emergencies, evacuations, or large gatherings, enhancing communication and public safety.

Here’s a graph from Google Trends showing the rise of the term in searches online, starting with its first appearance in 2011.

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Drones enhance perimeter security around critical infrastructure, prisons, and other high-security areas by providing continuous aerial surveillance and detecting intrusions.

High-resolution cameras are a standard feature on most police drones, providing detailed imagery for surveillance, crime scene documentation, and search and rescue operations. Cameras on drones like the DJI Matrice 350 RTK and Parrot ANAFI USA offer resolutions up to 48 MP, enabling officers to capture clear and precise images from the air.

But a drone doesn’t have to be made just for law enforcement to qualify as a police drone. Many high-quality commercial drones can be used effectively by trained police officers.

This surge in adoption was driven by the decreasing costs of drones and the increasing recognition of their utility in various operational contexts for police work.

A Drone as First Responder (DFR) program refers to the automatic deployment of drones to the scene of an incident immediately upon receiving a 911 call, providing real-time situational awareness to first responders as they travel to the scene.

By deploying drones to incident scenes, police departments can reduce the need for multiple ground units and allocate resources more strategically. Additionally, the ability to capture aerial imagery and live video feeds helps departments improve the overall quality of incident documentation and evidence collection.

This depends a lot on what type of devices it is. Devices that are designed to be "hosts" like smartphones or laptops usually have the ability to connect to many Bluetooth devices at the same time, though limitations in the device may prevent two simultaneous connections of certain types, such as audio output devices.

One of the first instances of a law enforcement agency employing drones was in 2013, when the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado began using them in search and rescue missions and crime scene investigations.

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Drones provide surveillance along borders, detecting illegal crossings and assisting border patrol agents in apprehending individuals attempting to enter the country unlawfully.

Bluetooth devices store pairing information in a pairing table and the number of devices it can simulteously store pairing informaiton for is limited by the number of entries in this table. For high powered devices like smartphones this table is essentially unlimited, while smaller Bluetooth devices may only allow around 6, 8, or some other small number of pairings.

Since launching the first Drone as First Responder (DFR) program in 2018, CVPD has seen significant improvements in response times and situational awareness. CVPD deploys drones to the scene of an incident immediately after a 911 call, providing real-time video feed to officers en route. This capability has helped in various scenarios, including locating suspects, monitoring large events, assessing crime scenes, and significantly reducing the number of calls officers respond to.

Pairing and using Bluetooth devices isn't as complicated as some make it out to be. This article will attempt to explain in simple terms how Bluetooth pairing works and what some of the biggest misconceptions about it are.

Now that we’ve covered an array of use cases, let’s dive deeper, and look at some real-world examples of how police departments and other law enforcement agencies are actually using drones in their work.

As a result, Bluetooth is not intended for communicating large amounts of data, like Wi-fi is. Devices which require high-speed network access can now include their own Wi-fi functionality instead should that be desired.

Pairing helps keep Bluetooth secure. Two devices are only supposed to be able to pair if the owner of the devices has both devices present at once and confirms the pairing. In practice, this usually means going into the Bluetooth devices menu on devices with a screen, or entering a "pairing mode" on devices without a screen, then initiating pairing on one device and accepting it on the other. The pairing process means that a stranger should not be able to connect to your Bluetooth device simply by being within signal range, because their device won't have been paired by you.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has integrated drones into its operations for tactical missions, including SWAT operations and hostage situations.

During large public events or protests, drones monitor crowd movements, identify potential hazards, and assist in crowd control efforts, ensuring public safety.

Police drones often carry multiple sensors to enhance their versatility. For example, the DJI Matrice 350 RTK can be equipped with various payloads, including high-resolution cameras, thermal sensors, and night vision cameras. This multi-sensor capability allows a single drone to perform multiple functions, from surveillance to thermal imaging, in a single flight​.

The Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) in California pioneered the first Drone as First Responder (DFR) program in the United States in 2018.

It’s worth noting that, among all the types of public safety agencies, police are the ones using drones the most, with fire departments a distant second.

Now that we’ve gone over the top police drones on the market it’s time to get concrete, and look at specific use cases for drones in policing.

To enable two Bluetooth devices to communicate with each other, the devices need to be connected. To connect, the Bluetooth devices must be in signal range with each other and one must initiate a connection with the other. In practice, many Bluetooth devices will automatically connect with any paired device as soon as it is switched on and in range, removing the need for manual connection. Nonetheless, devices such as phones or laptops include a Bluetooth menu allowing you to manually disconnect from, or attempt a connection to, a given Bluetooth device that's in range. For the simple case of a peripheral device which is paired and will always be used only with the one particular host device, there should never normally be a need to manually connect, because the pairing information will ensure they automatically connect.