{"id":272293,"date":"2026-04-17T08:21:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272293\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T08:21:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:21:36","slug":"fresno-police-unveils-three-new-first-responder-drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272293\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno Police unveils three new first-responder drones"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fresno Police Department is now part of the Drone as First Responder program, and officers can use three drones docked at different parts of the city to assist with calls.<\/p>\n

Police Chief Mindy Casto said the department has already seen results deploying standard drones since 2019, though first-responder drones go the extra mile.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pilot provides real-time information over the radio to officers in the field that may be responding. Officers in the field can also tune in to the video themselves through their car computer or their department-issued cellphones,\u201d Casto said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The drones are primarily operated from the department\u2019s downtown headquarters, though they can fly autonomously or be controlled from other areas as well.<\/p>\n

With appropriate training, pilots can operate multiple drones at a time.<\/p>\n

Casto said the drones can be an asset in helping identify suspects or find missing persons. They can even clear calls, such as a traffic hazard that resolves itself, without an officer visiting the scene.<\/p>\n

Equipped with infrared and night vision, the drones can lock onto vehicles of interest and make announcements by relaying recorded messages. Lt. Robert Dewey works with the drones and said the announcement feature is handy for matters such as clearing unhoused people from private property.<\/p>\n

\"Fresno Fresno police Lt. Robert Dewey looks over a map of the city from headquarters. Sections marked in orange are no-fly zones for the drone, including the airport, jail and areas with large antennas. Nick Fenley <\/p>\n

The drones are waterproof and can operate in temperatures up to 122 degrees, and in 35-mph winds. Dewey said the drones have a fly-and-charge time of 27 minutes, though officers can do a \u201chot swap\u201d and change batteries in the field.<\/p>\n

There are currently three first-responder drones serving Fresno. Two are placed atop the department\u2019s northeast and northwest stations, as those areas experience the most retail theft, Casto said. A third drone is at headquarters and will primarily serve the downtown area.<\/p>\n

The program launched March 23, and the new drones have helped on 275 service calls so far. On 148 of those calls, drone pilots were able to identify a person or vehicle of interest before ground units arrived. About 20% of the calls were cleared without ground officers needing to respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is just kind of the next wave of law enforcement,\u201d Dewey said.<\/p>\n

\"The The drones can operate themselves autonomously, or they can be controlled by pilots at Fresno Police headquarters. They can be operated by officers in the field and handle on-scene battery changes as well. Nick Fenley <\/p>\n

This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 10:09 AM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Nick Fenley<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Nick Fenley is a reporter covering education, lawsuits, breaking news and more for The Fresno Bee. He\u2019s originally from the Imperial Valley and has been with The Bee since 2025.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fresno Police Department is now part of the Drone as First Responder program, and officers can use…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-272293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}