Drones are increasingly being used as first responders, offering a rapid response with real-time aerial intelligence to aid law enforcement and emergency services. These drones can provide situational awareness, optimize resource allocation, and de-escalate situations before traditional responders arrive.
Drone solutions offer multiple advantages to traditional foot or squad car responders for cities dealing with officer shortages. Namely, drones can provide an extremely rapid response as they can arrive at an incident much faster than traditional responders, often within 90 seconds or less. Not only can drones be on site faster, they can provide a real-time aerial view of the scene, helping human first responders assess the situation and make informed decisions while they're on their way to an emergency which allows them to assess a situation and determine if a full police response is needed, saving resources and potentially de-escalating the situation. In addition to all of the visual information drones
drones can relay to law enforcement and emergency response teams, some municipalities are also experimenting with drones that can deliver medical supplies, such as AEDs, to emergency scenes quickly.
As technology increases and acceptance of drones as first responder programs grow it is believed that this technology will improve incident response times, de-escalate situations, increase the safety of emergency personnel, and become a force multiplier.