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Arvada leaders outline 'Arctic' real‑time center, drone‑first‑responder program and funding plan
Summary
Arvada police presented the Arvada Real Time Information Center ("Arctic") and a related Axon/Skydio drone‑first‑responder contract that bundles cameras, docking stations and software; staff described emergency uses, a phased rollout, funding sources and planned community transparency meetings.
Chief Brady presented the Arvada Real Time Information Center, or "Arctic," as a centralized hub to deliver real‑time video and data to first responders and other city departments.
The Arctic, Brady said, will pull feeds from more than 400 city cameras, traffic cameras, automated license‑plate readers and officers' body‑worn cameras into two workstations in the former dispatch center. "It will help improve our situational awareness," Brady said, "It'll give us quicker information, and more accurate information going into a scene." He told the council the April 21 contract with Axon includes drone hardware (Skydio DFRs), docking stations and the FUSIS software to manage flights and evidence workflows.
Why it matters: Brady described multiple emergency‑response uses for the system — wildfire smoke detection from tower cameras, faster damage assessment after floods, real‑time overhead views for structure fires and thermal overwatch in potentially violent incidents. He said similar programs in nearby cities have allowed agencies to clear many calls without sending officers, conserving scarce staffing resources.
Staffing, fleet and phases: Brady said the Police Department regraded two positions to staff the Arctic and will start with three drone‑first‑responders (two at headquarters, one at Lake Arbor Station) because of battery life and docking needs. He described a phased plan: Phase 1 — DFRs and docking; Phase 2 — integrate existing city cameras; Phase 3 — incorporate ALPRs and additional components. Commander Jason Ammon, introduced by the chief, explained the drones' technical features, including obstacle avoidance, autonomous dispatch from CAD data and a manual control fallback for field pilots.
Funding: Brady said the department absorbed personnel regrades at no net cost, allocated about $100,000 in seizure funds for Arctic technology and will apply roughly $500,000 from school‑resource‑officer reimbursements toward the program. "At the end of the day, the PD has been able to absorb this within our own budget," he said.
Transparency and public engagement: Staff announced a series of community meetings and a public transparency portal tied to flight logs. A staff member said manufacturers now offer transparency dashboards and the department plans to post flight records publicly; Brady said the department will post a recorded presentation and FAQs to a dedicated Arctic webpage. "We will automatically bring Omni Axon drone transparency when it comes to flock or LSAG or any of the LPRs," a staff speaker said.
Auditing and records: Commander Ammon and legal counsel Patty described audit steps and records practices. Patty said aerial/video surveillance is lawful in Colorado and the U.S., that Fourth Amendment protections apply and that operations would be governed by those legal standards. Ammon said flight logs would be labeled to show the call supported and be subject to audit to ensure flights supported official law‑enforcement calls outside training.
Next steps: The contract will be considered April 21; staff said they will hold community meetings before and after contract approval, run demonstrations and continue coordination with IT and other departments to finalize staffing, training and operational protocols.
