The Winston-Salem Police Department is expanding its "Drone as First Responder" (DFR) program. The department has been deploying drones for on-scene patrols for seven years and launched the DFR program in July of 2024.
But the addition of new Skydio drones began about a month ago. They can be deployed and operated from anywhere with cell service.
Michael Knight is a captain with the Criminal Intelligence Bureau. He says the new drones typically arrive on site in half the time, providing more information to pass on to officers before they arrive.
"We had a 911 call for a bank alarm," he says. "Our drone was on site in less than two minutes. We had two officers responding, emergency lights and sirens. The drone got there before they did. We were able to see that it was a worker working on an ATM. We were able to stop one of those cars from responding so they could go to other calls for service, and we slowed down the one car that did go, just to ensure that everything was okay."
Knight says the new drones have been particularly helpful in tracking suspects and locating missing persons. They're currently launched from three campus locations: Wake Forest University, University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Forsyth Technical Community College.
To date, the DFR program has conducted nearly 740 flights with the drones arriving on the scene before law enforcement about 60% of the time.