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Pflugerville orders first police drone, explores drones‑for‑first‑response and real‑time crime center
Summary
Chief O'Malley told council the department has ordered its first drone, has FAA‑certified pilots and is studying a drones‑for‑first‑response model and a real‑time crime center that would stream camera and 911 video to officers in the field.
Pflugerville Police Chief O'Malley said the department has ordered its first drone and has two FAA‑certified pilots ready to operate it when it arrives in the coming weeks.
"Our drone is on order," Chief O'Malley said. "Once we get that in and we can make sure that we know how to operate and and we're getting good, then our next step would be DFR — drone for first response." She described the DFR concept as deploying drones strategically to arrive on scene ahead of officers and stream live video to vehicles and dispatch.
The chief used a hypothetical burglary near a retail site to illustrate the concept: a drone could launch from a nearby station and stream a live view of a suspect or vehicle to officers en route. She said the primary policy and operational goal is to increase officer safety and improve chances of suspect apprehension; she also mentioned missing‑person searches as an immediate use case.
Separately, the department is exploring a real‑time crime center to integrate live camera feeds, license‑plate reader (LPR) data and 911 multimedia (the chief referenced prospective FaceTime‑style 911 video) so officers can have situational awareness before they arrive on scene.
Chief O'Malley said the department has obtained federal and state grants for camera and LPR systems (including a multi‑year federal Project Safe Neighborhood grant she associated with a Flock LPR program) and is expanding digital‑forensics capability to handle the increased volume of digital evidence.
She said policy, training and a phased rollout will precede any operational DFR or real‑time center deployment; no council action was taken at the session.
