Inside the DFR program at the Huntington Beach Police Department
The Huntington Beach Police Department is transforming emergency response with the first phase of their Drone as First Responder (DFR) program. Already achieving response times under two minutes, the program is helping officers solve crimes faster and keep the community safer. Hear from Police Chief Eric Parra on why this approach is unlike anything else in the country—and what’s next as the program expands.
"We're going to solve crime quicker." "Our response times should be 2 minutes by the time we get done with this program. You're not going to have that anywhere in the country." - Huntington Beach Police Chief, Eric Parra
- [instrumental music] Whiskey 15, I'm on scene at the parking
- structure. I've got the suspect. He's, uh, on the west side of
- the structure, top level.
- He's, uh, checking door handles.
- A two-minute response time's unheard of.
- Um, when you call us and we're there in two minutes,
- you won't even ...
- You'll barely be hanging up the phone and we're there.
- That is something that's unheard of because it's a common complaint throughout
- law
- enforcement.
- We just started our Drone as a First Responder program that's called the DFR
- program. The pilot, the drone pilot, is sitting at a location in
- our station, our real-time crime center.
- From here, we can hear the call go out.
- We can punch in the location and have the drone on scene
- normally within two minutes or less.
- If it is a crime in progress and we realize or we get up-to-date
- information
- from a witness in that area that that suspect is moving,
- we're able to also in
- real time update that location, or I can take over and start changing that
- location.
- Once the drone is on scene, the pilot can transmit the officers
- if there
- is, in fact, a crime occurring or if there's no need for their response at
- all.
- If we don't have video, uh, of the crime occurring, sometimes those
- cases go nowhere. So if we're able to get a drone overhead
- recording that
- happening, uh, not only is it helpful for the officers,
- for us to direct them
- to know where that suspect is going, it also helps, uh, not only the
- investigators but the district attorneys in the prosecution of that case.
- So this program is a completely reactive program.
- It's not proactive. We're not out proactively looking,
- looking for crime.
- We're not looking in people's backyards.
- We are there because there's a legitimate call for service.
- We will respond to that call for service.
- We will have the drone's ability there, and we will use it to the maximum
- extent. We need real-time situational awareness so
- we can get there and save
- people's lives. These drones give us that capability.
- It's, it's disaster preparedness.
- It is helping us to look for seniors that are lost when we have Siln- Silver
- Alerts. It's helping us for kids that get lost.
- It is off of the charts in terms of how much better public safety becomes
- because of this.
- Other larger agencies that have already begun their DFR program
- have reported
- between 20 and 25% of their patrol calls were actually handled by the drone.
- So right now we're in the first phase of our DFR program where we have three of
- these docks positioned throughout the city.
- Eventually, we want the entire city covered,
- which means we're gonna install more
- docks eventually. That way we can respond to any call in the
- city within
- two minutes.
- We're gonna solve crimes quicker.
- Our response times should be two minutes by the time, uh, we get
- done with this program. You're not gonna have
- that anywhere in the country.
- This allows us to let business be, uh, conducted as usual
- without significant interruptions. It's gonna be,
- it's gonna be a game changer.
- [instrumental music]
Watch Time
2 Mins 43 Secs