DENTON, Texas — Certified drone pilots with the Denton Police and Denton Fire departments can launch aircraft within seconds of certain 911 calls during a pilot that runs from Oct. 1 through Oct. 31.
The city says the Drone as a First Responder program is meant to speed emergency response and give crews a live view of a scene while they are still driving. The Voice of Denton reported the announcement on Sept. 30. The dates, the list of calls, and the operating limits below come from the city’s own program page.
Which calls can bring a drone
The city says drones may launch on selected calls: traffic crashes, missing persons, robberies in progress, structure fires, and water rescues. The aircraft are Skydio X10 DFR drones stored in docking stations, where they stay powered and ready to fly.
A certified pilot flies the drone straight to the call. Live video goes to pilots inside Denton’s 911 Dispatch Center, the departments said. The city says the drones travel to and from a specific 911 call. They are not used to patrol neighborhoods, and they do not take the place of officers or firefighters on the ground.
Every flight in the pilot is tied to a 911 call for service. The departments said they will record each flight and the data that comes with it. Residents can look up flight paths on a Skydio transparency dashboard linked from the city page at www.cityofdenton.com/dfr.
“When someone calls 911, every second matters,” Interim Police Chief Tony Salas said, according to the Voice of Denton. “The DFR pilot program allows officers and firefighters to arrive on scene with improved situational awareness, helping us keep Denton safe for everyone.”
What changes from the 2022 drone program
Denton already uses drones through a Joint Public Safety Uncrewed Aircraft System Program that began in 2022. Until this pilot, officers and firefighters carried those aircraft to a scene in a vehicle. The departments said those flights have helped search for critically missing people, map major crashes and fires, and watch over prescribed burns.
The dock is the new piece. A drone can leave before a patrol car or fire engine reaches the block, so responders can arrive with video instead of starting the picture from the curb.
The city’s FAQ says the existing public-safety drone team will fly the aircraft, and that those sworn officers and firefighters hold an FAA Part 207 pilot certificate. The same page says nearby cities with DFR programs include Lewisville, The Colony, Prosper, Plano, Dallas, and Fort Worth.
What the city has not published
The program page does not say how many docking stations Denton is using, what the pilot costs, or which parts of the city the docks cover.
Residents can read the program page at www.cityofdenton.com/dfr. The city’s website lists a public phone number of (940) 349-7311.