As staffing pressures mount, Canadian police services are turning to drones that can reach a 911 call before officers do
Across Canada, police, fire and paramedic services are increasingly turning to Drone as First Responder (DFR) programs, deploying drones from fixed docking stations that can launch within 60 seconds of a 911 call and relay live video to responders before they arrive on scene. The shift comes as staffing pressures and rising call volumes push public safety agencies to look for new ways to stretch limited resources, a challenge also faced by Ontario wildland firefighters who are coping with a staffing shortage.
"What we've seen in the last 18 months, particularly in Canada, is a real advance in the drone as first responder concept," said Stuart Lawless, director of international deployments at Versaterm, whose DroneSense platform supports drone-based emergency response programs, including one operated by the Friendswood Police Department in Texas. Drones docked at high-call-volume or high-risk locations can be dispatched autonomously ahead of patrol cars, fire trucks or ambulances, particularly in congested urban environments where traffic slows ground response.
How the model works
The core benefit, Lawless said, is that live video from the drone reaches responders while they are still en route, letting them assess hazards and plan before arrival. "It has the ability to relay all of that live video that it's capturing from the drone back to the first responders," he said, adding that agencies can also use the technology to right-size their response, scaling a five-car dispatch down to a single unit once a drone confirms a scene is low-risk. According to Versaterm, Friendswood's docked drones cover 95 per cent of the city through four stations, launch within 60 to 90 seconds and complete more than 1,000 flights annually, figures the company says demonstrate the model's ability to coordinate live feeds across police, fire and emergency medical services (EMS).
Durham Regional Police's pilot in action
One Canadian example already underway is Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS), which is running a Drone as First Responder pilot project that Lawless pointed to as a model for the public engagement other Canadian agencies are undertaking to build trust in the technology. "This is a community asset that we are deploying in order to be able to see what's taking place, make sure we have the right level of resources and that we reduce the risk of that incident as it unfolds," he said.
"We are officially launching our drone as a first responder pilot project," DRPS Chief Peter Moreira said in a video released by the service. In one case highlighted by DRPS, a drone reached the area within seconds of a 911 call reporting an elderly man living with dementia who had wandered from home in dangerous winter cold. While patrol units navigated icy roads, the drone searched the surrounding neighbourhood from the air, ruled out the area near his home and expanded the search outward, locating him walking alone near a nearby plaza before guiding officers directly to him.
DRPS says dock locations are chosen based on call volume, crime data and property availability, and that the service has completed more than 6,700 testing, training and operational drone flights without an aviation incident or public safety concern. The force says its drones are not used for general surveillance, are not equipped with facial recognition, and only begin recording when there is a clear investigative purpose, all governed by an approved Privacy Impact Assessment and Transport Canada's aviation regulations.
What's ahead for Canadian drone programs
Lawless expects adoption to broaden quickly. "In the next one year I think we'll see that drone as first responder concepts aren't just a one-off, like Durham or in Vancouver," he said. "Where I see drone as first responder being in five years time is actually a city-wide approach where drones become part of the infrastructure of a city," with departments beyond policing, such as building inspection services, drawing on the same network.
He credited Transport Canada as one of the more innovative drone regulators in the world for its approach to beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations, a regulatory evolution tracked in our interview with NAV Canada on the country's drone industry growth. As with other technologies removing workers or officers from higher-risk situations, the value case for drones as first responders rests on measurable outcomes: fewer responder injuries, faster decisions and, Lawless said, demonstrable regulatory compliance that supports both accountability and public trust.
