Six months after Minnetonka quietly sent its first drone up over the city, the unmanned fleet is already reshaping how some 911 calls play out on the ground. City officials say the Drones as First Responder program has turned small aircraft into a kind of airborne scout, feeding real-time video back to police before squad cars even reach the block.
In that short stretch, the department dispatched drones to 423 calls, resolved roughly 20% of those incidents without sending an officer and had the drone arrive first about 65% of the time, according to KSTP. Deputy Chief Jason Tait told reporters the department deletes captured drone video within three days, which is stricter than Minnesota’s seven day statutory cap, and crime analyst Garith Scherck said some flights are reaching scenes “within 30 seconds to 45 seconds.” Officials pitch the system as a public safety tool that gives responders more information, faster, and they argue that it keeps both residents and officers safer.
How The Drones Arrive First
The program’s speed comes from a network of rooftop docks scattered across Minnetonka. When a 911 call fits the program criteria, a drone can be launched automatically, then piloted remotely while it streams live video into an operations center. Supervisors and pilots watch that feed, size up any risk and help decide what kind of response, if any, should head to the scene.
City leaders signed off on the policy after a round of public comment and then held a formal launch event in August 2025, according to the city’s project materials and earlier local coverage. Those program documents include the adopted policy and a press release that lays out how and when the drones can be flown.
Statewide Growth And Oversight
Minnetonka is not the only place leaning into unmanned aircraft. Across Minnesota, law enforcement agencies reported 6,603 uses of UAVs in 2024 in situations where a warrant was not required, and statewide costs and deployments have climbed sharply, according to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension…