Plano City Council approved $1.4 million to go toward a new program for first responders to use drones at a meeting July 27.
The details
The new program will award Motorola Solutions Inc. with $1.44 million to implement and support the Plano Police Department’s Drone as First Responder, or DFR, program.
The DFR program will provide first responders with aerial response capabilities that can help commanders arrive at a scene before ground units, per city documents. The program will support a wide range of situations from traffic incidents and fires to search operations.
“If we could get that person’s face, their license tag, there’s a good possibility we’ll be able to apprehend that person,” Police Chief Ed Drain said.
The program is also expected to reduce emergency response times, improve situational awareness, increase suspect apprehension and property recovery rates, and improve efficiency and effectiveness for public safety resource deployment, per city documents.
Public input
Three residents spoke against the DFR program at the meeting with privacy concerns.
“Drones have been used to spy on protests, perfectly legal protests, and then afterwards people are coming home and finding law enforcement showing up at their doors,” resident Shirley Lawson said.
Lawson and other residents shared concerns about potential violations of the First, Fourth, Fifth and 14th amendments, which protect freedom of speech, privacy and due process.
Place 1 council member Maria Tu said new technology can help in cases that would otherwise rely on the memory of police officers or eyewitnesses.
“I am a criminal defense lawyer. ... Colleagues in the defense world are able to either negotiate dismissal, a reduction to the offense that’s allegedly charged by the police officer or come to a resolution to a plea because it’s so obvious that it has happened,” she said. “Those are important because it helps the city save money in trying every case in court.”
Officials said the drone could only operate for 20 minutes to an hour and would only be used when needed, rather than as surveillance.
“I am hoping under Chief Drain that we won’t have [surveillance]. I can guarantee that we will keep our eyes on that to make sure that that is not violated,” Mayor Pro Tem Rick Horne said. “I too worry about surveillance in my backyard. And I understand concerns about the FBI. Those are issues that we’re seeing coming out of D.C. But we are Plano, the city of excellence, and we like to take care of our citizens.”
Dig deeper
Funds for the DFR program will be used over a five-year period for hardware, software licensing, implementation services, training, maintenance and any additional support for four program docking systems according to city documents.
Drain said the following four facilities will have docks for the drones, which will allow coverage for most of the city:
- Tom Muehlenbeck Recreation Center
- Plano Police Substation
- Plano Aquatic Center
- Plano Event Center
The company also provides equipment for the DFR program’s flight operations and live streaming software, a digital evidence management and a real time intelligence software in the Plano police department, per city documents.
The city previously approved $5.7 million for Motorola Solutions to replace aging portable radios and body-worn cameras used by first responders in June 2025.
