Spokane’s four Skydio X10 drones flew roughly 400 missions in their first three weeks on the job, and this week one of them took over a pursuit that had become too dangerous for patrol cars to continue. The fleeing pickup slowed down, the suspect went into custody, and nobody chased anybody through a neighborhood. When I covered Spokane’s purchase of these aircraft in April, the pitch was World Cup security. Three months later, the pilot program’s numbers land in front of city administrators on Monday.
A Chase Too Dangerous To Continue Ended In An Arrest
Stevens County deputies were pursuing a black Chevrolet Silverado southbound on Monroe Street on Tuesday night when the chase approached Spokane city limits and became too dangerous to continue, so the police department put a drone overhead and tracked the truck without a single patrol car applying pressure.
Sergeant Craig Hamilton, who oversees the Spokane Police Department’s Air Support Unit, walked KXLY through the mechanics. The drone sat overhead while the suspects had no idea it was there, feeding live updates to patrol units staged nearby.
“We end up with more arrests and it’s safer for everybody,” Hamilton said.
The physics of it deserve a pause. A vehicle pursuit is a feedback loop: the driver speeds because someone is visibly chasing him. Take the cruiser out of the mirror and the reason to flee evaporates, while the thermal camera keeps the truck in frame from 400 feet up…