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Normal council approves $50,000 pilot to use Flock Safety drone as first responder
Summary
The Town of Normal approved a one-year, $50,000 pilot to waive bidding and purchase a Flock Safety ‘‘drone as first responder’’ system, with council and staff outlining FAA coordination, a transparency portal, 30-day retention for non-evidentiary footage and routine audits.
The Normal Town Council on June 10 approved a resolution waiving formal bidding and authorizing the purchase of a Flock Safety ‘‘drone as first responder’’ system for a one-year pilot at a cost of $50,000.
Chief Petrilli introduced the item and said the drone would be deployed as a first responder to provide aerial views for active scenes, large accident responses and disaster operations. He said the department had been planning the technology since 2024, budgeted funds during 2025 preparation and finalized training and paperwork by April 1, 2026. Detective John Cleven, the department’s technology services and investigations unit member, would be the program coordinator if the council approved the pilot.
Why it matters: staff said the drone can arrive on scene faster than a physical officer and feed live video into the department’s systems, improving officer and firefighter safety and helping allocate resources more quickly. Chief Petrilli said the drone platform integrates with the department’s existing Flock automatic license plate reader system.
Council members pressed staff on airspace safety, public access and data controls. Chief Petrilli said Normal has coordinated with the FAA and Bloomington Regional tower and holds a certificate waiver allowing flights up to 200 feet; staff will monitor life-flight and other aviation operations in real time. On public access, staff said the transparency portal would be posted on the town website similar to the department’s ALPR portal and would show flight paths and the types of incidents where drones were used; addresses and identifying information would be heavily redacted.
Staff explained that recorded drone footage would be retained for 30 days if not required for a criminal investigation and that footage tied to prosecutions would be preserved as evidence. Video recorded by the drone would offload to the department’s existing evidence repository (evidence.com) via a vendor API; staff said the system is siloed under Normal PD’s account and that access is controlled and audited. Chief Petrilli noted the department conducts internal audits monthly and referenced a prior statewide review by the Illinois Secretary of State that examined local Flock users and found no problems in Normal’s ALPR data handling.
Several council members raised questions about vendor controls and public trust. Chief Petrilli acknowledged public concerns about the vendor and said the department enforces internal access controls, performs routine audits, and will address any misuse with corrective training. Staff said the quoted purchase covers equipment, training and software for one year; build-out is expected to take four to six weeks if approved, and staff may add a second drone for similar pricing if needed during planning.
The council approved the resolution on a unanimous recorded roll call. Chief Petrilli said the department will appoint Detective Cleven as program coordinator, produce monthly reports on the pilot’s progress and continue to coordinate with fire and 911 dispatch as part of a broader public-safety initiative.
The resolution passed; implementation steps include vendor mapping and a short build-out period. The council did not adopt additional restrictions on vendor access during the meeting.
