LOS ANGELES, CA — Officials on Tuesday advanced a Los Angeles Police Department plan to purchase a fleet of drones that would be launched from locations across the city.
The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a $2.1 million donation from the Los Angeles Police Foundation, which would help pay for a fleet of drones and docking stations.
Those funds, along with a $1.8 million grant meant for retail-theft policing, would pay for a three-year contract with Skydio Inc. for equipment, warranty coverage and service, according to city documents.
The Los Angeles City Council will consider approving the donation in a future meeting before the plan can move forward.
The LAPD last year began testing drones as part of its Drone as First Responder Program, evaluating its feasibility while testing multiple vendors, equipment platforms, personnel and deployment sites.
It selected Skydio for its drones, which use video cameras and thermal imaging to help feed information about emergency scenes to LAPD officers on the ground. Live video gives officers real-time awareness to assess threats, locate suspects, identify potential hazards and can resolve calls for emergency without direct contact, Assistant Chief Director Emada Tingirides of the LAPD Office of Operations wrote in a report.
The report didn’t specify exactly how many drones the LAPD plans to purchase under the proposal, but it does specify the number of drone docking stations that each division would receive:
LAPD Headquarters — 3Northeast — 2Hollywood — 2Olympic — 2Wilshire — 2West Los Angeles — 2Topanga — 2Devonshire — 2
Additionally, the proposal calls for docking stations to be located at some of the city’s major commercial centers:
Palisades Village — 1The Grove — 2Vineyards Porter Ranch — 2Avenue of the Stars, Century City — 2
Drones stationed at those rooftop docking stations would be able to operate within a 2-3 mile radius, according to the report.
Additionally, the department plans to purchase two additional drones that could be launched from any location in the city, according to the report.
Officials say the program can improve response times and provide better situational awareness for officers, and can also make it safer for officers to respond to calls and support de-escalation efforts.
Critics have raised concerns that use of the drones will lead to an invasion of residents’ privacy.
When the LAPD was planning the use of drones in 2019, a group called The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition decried the use of unmanned aircraft as possibly leading to improper surveillance.
The LAPD launched its Drone as a First Responder program in 2024 by November 2025 expanded it to five locations, providing coverage in 15 of the department’s 21 areas. Since July 2025, the program conducted 1,779 flights, averaged 23 deployments per day, and was first on scene in 754 incidents, according to the department’s annual crime report published last month.
In 135 cases, calls for service were resolved before officers arrived, preserving patrol resources for higher priority needs, the report showed.
Drones were deployed for the 2025 World Series and championship parade as well. LAPD aims to integrate the program with its real-time crime center technology.
City News Service contributed to this report.