Fort Worth police have quietly started sending docked drones to emergency calls, kicking off a one-year trial with Flock Safety that began on May 8. The department says two drones are currently in service, with a small operator team launching and monitoring them from the Bob Bolen Public Safety Complex. In some cases, officials say, the aircraft are getting to emergency scenes ahead of patrol units, giving first responders a live look at what they are rolling into.
Chief Eddie Garcia has branded the program "eyes in the sky," arguing that real-time aerial video helps officers and firefighters make faster decisions when situations turn dangerous. The city describes the arrangement as a one-year, no-cost pilot with Flock Safety and says it is eyeing eventual expansion across all six patrol divisions if the test goes well. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, pilots hold FAA Part 107 certifications, complete additional department training, can fly up to 400 feet under a department waiver, and log every flight in a public transparency portal.
How the drone response is designed
The Flock setup combines automated rooftop or ground-based docks, a central command console, and livestreaming software so pilots can quickly dispatch drones to priority calls and push video to officers while they are still en route. Reporting from DroneDJ has found that Drone-as-First-Responder programs in other departments often get "eyes on scene" in under two minutes, tightening the window between a 911 call and an informed on-the-ground response. Industry coverage also notes that agencies sometimes obtain specialized FAA waivers and operate drones from Real Time Crime Centers, a model outlined in Police Magazine.
Privacy and oversight questions
The drone launch arrives while Flock is already facing questions over its license-plate camera network and how it has been deployed around Texas. A 2024 Texas Department of Public Safety notice warned about state licensing rules for private installations, and local reporting found that some Flock devices in Fort Worth were placed in public rights-of-way without permits, prompting calls for clearer rules on data sharing and city oversight, according to KERA/Fort Worth Report and coverage of the DPS warning by FOX26 Houston. Civil-liberties advocates have argued that wide-angle aerial footage combined with plate-reading technology can build detailed records of people’s movements, and city officials have responded that transparency portals and audit trails will be central pieces of any oversight system.
What to watch next
For now, the no-cost pilot mirrors similar drone rollouts elsewhere and buys Fort Worth a year to see how the technology performs before committing tax dollars to full-time coverage. Observers will be looking for regular releases of flight logs, clear rules on how long video is kept and who can see it, and public briefings that spell out when drones are launched and how their footage feeds into criminal and fire investigations. For background on how these free pilots are structured and how agencies decide whether to keep them, see reporting from DroneXL and broader coverage from DroneDJ.
