GoKawiilA hot potato: We've been seeing reports for several years now about public safety agencies launching drone-as-first-responder (DFR) initiatives, but the programs have really exploded in popularity recently, and the digital rights organization EFF says this threatens privacy in communities. The drones are able to spy on people through windows, in their backyards, and on roofs, at distances so great that the subjects are unaware they're being watched.
The EFF writes that as of February 2026, over 1,000 public safety agencies, including police, fire, and other emergency management agencies, had received the FAA waivers needed to automate drone operations and launch a DFR program.
The FAA streamlined and sped up the process of obtaining a waiver in April 2025, which led to a huge increase in the number issued. Only 976 DFR waivers had been granted between the launch of the first DFR program in 2018 and April 2025. But between April 2025 and February 2026, the FAA issued more waivers than it had in the previous seven years combined.
Law enforcement agencies have also started changing how they use these drones, moving from human-operated aerial observation toward AI-based, increasingly autonomous systems.
Pilots are usually restricted to flying within visual line of sight. Sending a drone from a desk to an incident elsewhere in a city requires additional FAA approval because of the collision risk.
Newer DFR systems can automatically launch from rooftop docking stations and fly to 911 calls, allowing one operator to oversee several drones. As reported in February, police in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn are deploying Skydio drones that can reach incidents in around 2.5 minutes and stream live footage to officers before they arrive.
Supporters say the technology improves situational awareness, shortens response times, and can help officers decide whether a police presence is required. Fire departments are also testing autonomous drones that can start dealing with wildfires before crews reach the scene.
However, the EFF says high-risk emergencies account for only a small proportion of some deployments. An analysis of Chula Vista's program found drones were frequently dispatched to calls involving unhoused people, mental health concerns, and loud music.
Footage can also be stored, shared, and analyzed like other surveillance video. Flock Safety quietly added license-plate-reading capabilities to its drones last year, effectively turning them into flying ALPRs, while Axon says its DFR platform is one of its fastest-growing businesses.
The concerns echo those in a 2024 report, when the EFF warned that responding to routine calls could justify persistent surveillance of neighborhoods generating more 911 traffic.
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