Police outline drone-first-responder program: three docked drones cover ~90% of buildings; department seeks expanded staffing

Commander Diaz presented an update on the Police Departments Drone First Responder (DFR) program to the Cathedral City council on March 11, saying the program has demonstrated operational benefits and cross-department uses.

Diaz said the department currently operates three docked drones on secure rooftops that, based on launch locations and flight ranges, provide about 90% coverage of buildings in the city. Every flight is logged by pilot, path and time, and video is retained in accordance with the departmentpolicy for body-worn cameras and other records. "Every flight is tracked by date, time, the flight path, and the pilot that was flying at the time," Diaz said.

Diaz said the department has nine trained pilots (three officers, two dispatchers, one community service officer, two sergeants and the commander) who obtained FAA Part 107 certification and a 40-hour training program. Typical flight times range from about 25 minutes up to 40 minutes under ideal conditions; docking stations recharge rapidly and overlapping coverage allows a second drone to relieve a drone returning to dock for recharging.

Diaz showed video examples of operations in which drones arrived before patrol and provided thermal and zoom imagery to assist search-and-rescue, locate a suspect hiding on a roof, assess structure fires and document storm-related mudflows and infrastructure damage. He said the program was established using state and regional grant funds and that docking-station procurement and software costs were largely reimbursed; an approximate figure discussed during Q&A for dock-and-software initial cost was about $33,000 per docking station.

Council members asked about privacy and oversight. "Is there a way that you're sort of considering it and thinking about it that way?" Council Member Christina Gordon asked about the boundary between response and intrusive surveillance. Diaz said flights are deployed to priority calls or planned operations, are logged with case numbers and pilot names, and are periodically audited by supervisors. He said the department does not use drones for indiscriminate neighborhood patrols and that recorded flights are subject to the same retention and oversight as other recorded evidence.

The department said its next steps are adding pilots to move toward 24/7 coverage, evaluating additional launch sites to shorten response times and continuing regional collaboration through a real-time intelligence center that can operate drones across participating jurisdictions when local coverage is not available. The presentation was informational and no council action was taken.