Salt Lake City Police Now Send a Drone Before an Officer

When a 911 call comes in about a reported weapon or a crash in Salt Lake City, the first responder on scene may have propellers. The police department now keeps seven drones at launch points around the city, flown remotely by sworn officers who are FAA-certified pilots. According to the department's 2026 annual report, the drones can often reach a scene in under two minutes.

The program began in the summer of 2022. Since July 2023, when the department started tracking, its drones have made 4,381 flights and covered 5,508 miles, more than 1,000 hours in the air. In fiscal year 2026 the department had a dedicated sergeant, a full-time drone team and 22 active pilots.

How it grew

The big change came this year. In May, the department said it would have four drone docking stations by early June and planned to grow to seven. A dock charges the drone and downloads its video between flights, and the pilot flies it from a computer at headquarters.

Redd said that in February the department cleared more than half of its drone calls without sending an officer. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that over three weeks in August, drones flew 391 times, arrived before officers 70 percent of the time, and found no need for an officer on 88 of those flights. Twenty-four flights led to arrests.

The drones feed the department's new Real-Time Crime Center at headquarters, where detectives can also pull up city camera footage and plate reader data during a live call. Most of the fleet is made by Skydio, a U.S. manufacturer. The department also flies a DJI Matrice 4 inside buildings, for search and rescue and for mapping crime scenes.

What the department says it will not do

Salt Lake police say the drones respond only to calls. They are not used for proactive patrol or to watch activity protected by the First Amendment, such as protests. The department has told lawmakers that its crime center cameras are not constantly monitored, cannot run facial recognition and cannot connect to residents' doorbell cameras.

Each deployment is logged with a case number, the reason for the flight and the full flight path. According to KUTV, the drones record from the moment they launch, with the camera facing forward on the way to a call so the pilot can avoid obstacles. Video is kept only when it is evidence. It goes to the department's evidence storage on the same schedule as body camera video, and access to it is logged and audited.

Those are department rules. Council Chair Alejandro Puy has said the city is working on ordinances covering drones, plate readers and data privacy. Until the council writes them into law, the department can change its own policy.

What state law requires

Utah has limited police drones since 2014, and the Legislature amended the law again this year. Police may not obtain, receive or use data from a drone unless one of the law's conditions is met. They can use it under a warrant or under the exceptions courts already recognize to the warrant requirement. They can take it from a private person, but may use it only if it appears to relate to a crime or to an emergency involving a danger of death or serious injury. They can use it to find a lost or missing person where no one has a reasonable expectation of privacy, and they can use data gathered in a way that does not violate anyone's reasonable expectation of privacy.

Police must destroy drone data as soon as reasonably possible, subject to records retention schedules. Data about people who were not the target of a flight may not be used and has to be destroyed, with exceptions that include evidence of a crime the drone happened to record. When an officer uses a drone in a case, the police report has to say so.

Most of what a 911 drone does, looking at a street or a crash scene, will rest on that last condition: data gathered without violating anyone's reasonable expectation of privacy. The law does not define the phrase. Courts decide it case by case, and the hard calls will come at the edges, such as a drone that lingers over a backyard or one that flies inside a home.

The concerns

The ACLU of Utah told the Tribune that drones, plate readers and crime center cameras together threaten to "flip" civil liberties. Its recommendations include limiting drone and plate reader use to emergencies and keeping data only when there is reasonable suspicion. It also wants a ban on armed drones.

Jay Stanley of the national ACLU told the Deseret News he sees real benefits in some police drone uses. His broader warning is that police are on their best behavior while a technology is new, and that promises of narrow use tend to loosen once it becomes routine. He points to departments elsewhere that now fly drones on patrol.

The limits that matter most here are department policy, not state law.

Other departments

Salt Lake City is not alone. Sandy police use about a dozen drones several times a week as part of their own crime center. UTA police started a drone program in 2023. Park City police and Summit County deputies use drones to find lost children and hikers and to track suspects who run.

West Valley City is weighing a free one-year trial with Motorola Solutions. It would use three kinds of drones, including a small one that flies inside buildings during SWAT-type calls, and would cost about $175,000 after the trial, with subscriptions over five years, according to Police Chief Colleen Jacobs. The department says indoor flights would be limited to places officers may lawfully enter, such as with a warrant or consent. David Ferguson of the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has asked how a person in crisis would react to a drone suddenly appearing indoors.

What 2027 brings

Federal rules are likely to loosen. Drone first responder programs fly beyond the pilot's line of sight, which today takes an FAA waiver. Records released under the Freedom of Information Act show the FAA cleared more than 1,000 agencies for those flights in a 10-month span. Its rule to make the flights routine, known as Part 108, has been under White House review since July 10 and was not in effect as of early November. Once it is final, expect more Utah cities to follow Salt Lake City.

The supply of drones is narrowing at the same time. In December 2025 the Federal Communications Commission put foreign-made drones, including DJI's, on its Covered List, which blocks new models from getting the authorization they need to be sold here. Models approved before then remain legal to buy and fly. Departments that rely on DJI will be choosing between older models and U.S.-made aircraft.

At the Capitol, the plate reader bills taking shape for January may reach the same crime centers that drones feed. In Salt Lake City, the council's ordinance work will decide whether today's department policies become law.

This article reflects Utah law and published reporting as of Nov. 14, 2026. The Utah Docket has not reviewed the department's annual report directly; figures from it are as reported by KUTV. Corrections and tips: [email protected].

Sources

1. Salt Lake City police say drones film flights, retain video only when it is evidence KUTV, Oct. 6, 2026
2. Drone Program Salt Lake City Police Department
3. Salt Lake police to expand drone first-responder program as it eyes safety, efficiency KSL, May 15, 2026
4. Police drones buzzing across SLC feed a new high-tech crime center Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 2, 2026
5. Growing use of police drones spurs privacy debate Deseret News, July 25, 2026
6. Salt Lake City Police Department public safety briefing, Real Time Crime Center Utah Legislature interim materials, 2026
7. When does it stop? Privacy questions arise over Salt Lake City police surveillance technology Fox 13
8. Utah's drone law: when police may use drone data Utah Legislature
9. Utah's drone law: data about people who were not the target Utah Legislature
10. Utah's drone law: reporting drone use Utah Legislature
11. Report shows few Utah agencies report using drones Associated Press via KSL, May 2015
12. Police promise that drone use will be narrow; be skeptical ACLU
13. Police drone programs expand as first-responder tool, raising privacy concerns in some InvestigateTV, Feb. 6, 2026
14. Sandy Police Department defends drone use amid community privacy concerns KUTV
15. UTA police begin drone program to combat crime and provide first aid KSL via CNN affiliates, July 12, 2023
16. How police officers and deputies use drones and license plate cameras KPCW, May 5, 2026
17. West Valley City considers police drone program Fox 13, Nov. 6, 2026
18. Get FAA Part 108 Ready: status tracker Unmanned Safety Institute, updated Nov. 4, 2026
19. BVLOS and Part 108 news DroneXL
20. US bans foreign-made consumer drone products over security concerns CyberInsider, December 2025
21. Transparency with Public Safety Drone Programs Office of the State Auditor, January 2025