What the proposed trial would include
West Valley City Police are considering a one-year test of three drone models under a proposed contract with Motorola Solutions, FOX 13 reports. One model could be sent to calls, another carried by trained officers, and a smaller one used indoors in SWAT-type situations. The trial would cost the city nothing. Police Chief Colleen Jacobs said continuing the program afterward would cost about $175,000, with subscriptions renewed over five years.
Police describe intended boundaries, while concerns persist
At a city meeting, police presented the drones as tools for responding to calls rather than conducting surveillance, according to FOX 13. Jacobs said a drone traveling to a dispatched call would keep its camera pointed upward and lower it after reaching the scene.
The department said indoor flights would be limited to circumstances in which officers are legally permitted to enter, including with a warrant, consent or during an emergency. Police also said a drone could help find someone inside without putting others in unnecessary danger. FOX 13 reported that a city official questioned the surveillance implications. David Ferguson of the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers focused on a different risk: how a person in crisis might respond to an unexpected drone indoors.
Salt Lake City provides a nearby comparison
Salt Lake City already operates a drone-response program. KUTV reported that seven first-responder drones were positioned at launch points around the city. Since tracking began in July 2023, the department’s drones had completed 4,381 flights, spent more than 1,000 hours in the air and traveled 5,508 miles. The department said the drones record during flights but that pilots retain footage only when it has evidentiary value; it also said the program is not used for proactive patrol or to monitor First Amendment-protected activity.
Earlier in the program’s expansion, Salt Lake City planned to grow from four docking stations to seven by early June. In reporting this spring, KSL.com quoted Chief Brian Redd describing a goal of avoiding unnecessary officer dispatches and sending social workers in some cases. Redd also said officers cleared more than half of calls in February without sending an officer, using a drone instead.
Earlier local use and broader growth
West Valley City had a drone program before the proposed trial. A 2020 report by West Valley Utah News said the program had been operating for several months, with drones used about once a week, often to search for missing or endangered people or assist SWAT operations. Current reporting does not explain how that earlier program relates to the proposed test.
Police drone use has also grown nationally. The Deseret News reported that the number of law enforcement agencies with drone programs had nearly tripled since 2020. It also cited more than 20,000 calls and more than 3,000 arrests involving Chula Vista police drones, and nearly 1,400 San Francisco police drone launches in the first four months after the department acquired them in 2024.
