Fresno police deploy drones first to emergency calls across city

Fresno police are betting that the fastest answer to a 911 call may come from the sky. Chief Mindy Casto announced on Wednesday, April 16, that the department has launched its Drone as First Responder program, putting three American-made Skydio X-10 drones into service to reach scenes before ground units arrive.

The drones are based at the northeast district, the northwest district and police headquarters downtown, giving the department coverage across major parts of Fresno. Casto said the aircraft can help officers quickly determine whether a scene involves armed people, what a suspect looks like, which vehicles are involved, and whether someone is injured and needs an ambulance. Lt. Joshua Richards, who has overseen the program since it launched last June, said the drones can reach calls in seconds ahead of patrol units and can also help locate missing people, suspects and vehicles.

The rollout lands in a city where response times can vary sharply. ABC30 Fresno reported that the department’s most urgent calls can draw a response in about eight minutes, while lower-priority calls such as burglary, auto theft and child-custody disputes can take nearly four hours. Dispatchers handle more than 1,000 911 calls a day in Fresno, a city the U.S. Census Bureau estimates had 550,105 residents as of July 1, 2024. Fresno County’s population was estimated at 1,024,125.

The drones are not only meant to observe. In some situations, police said, they can carry Narcan, AEDs and even life vests, turning the aircraft into a tool for both assessment and delivery. That fits the broader model described by the National Institute of Justice, which says drone-as-first-responder programs use prepositioned drones to give officers aerial situational awareness before they arrive on scene.

The Federal Aviation Administration says public safety agencies can operate drones under Part 107 and other federal pathways, with expedited approval available in some emergencies. Skydio says the X10 can fly up to 45 mph, stay aloft for up to 40 minutes, deploy in under 40 seconds and withstand dust and water with an IP55 rating.

Fresno is not alone. Clovis Police is also expanding its first-responder drone program and says its unmanned aircraft are used reactively for calls for service, suspect and missing-person searches, evidence work and collision reconstruction. Clovis has said it posts flight information within 48 hours for transparency. Fresno’s move now puts response speed, officer safety and the question of how quickly help arrives at the center of local policing.