Minnetonka's Drone as First Responder program responds to 413 calls in its first six months
2026年2月25日
Six months after launching Minnesota's first Drone as First Responder (DFR) program, the Minnetonka Police Department is already seeing the results pay off. Drones have responded to 413 calls for service, arriving on scene before patrol units 65.4% of the time and giving officers and firefighters useful, real-time information in 87.1% of cases.
In nearly 1 out of every 5 calls, that information was enough to resolve the incident without dispatching additional resources. The results are helping Minnetonka lead the state in public safety innovation, with a public flight dashboard keeping the community informed every step of the way.
- As part of our public safety master plan, innovation and use of technology was
- called
- out as an important piece of that.
- This is where our team here at the PD is incredible.
- In our department, we have a lot of officers who are very creative and try to
- find ways
- to be more efficient.
- And specifically with the DFR program, it's something that we've been
- watching in the
- U.S. here for, you know, a good couple of years.
- But to be the first city and police department to bring it to Minnesota, it was
- pretty cool.
- We have four docking stations in the city.
- They're sitting on city facilities.
- And what happens is when a 911 call comes in, we can determine if that's an
- appropriate
- response.
- The drone can launch and fly to that scene and get anywhere in the city within
- two minutes.
- The drone will then provide real-time information, video, and the officers who
- are responding
- can see what they're responding to.
Watch Time
1 Mins 4 Secs