Published on March 05, 2025
It is the sheriff’s office agency policy to disclose to the public the usage of our agency drones in a report. In 2024, WCSO drone pilots deployed our agency drones 39 times.
WCSO drone deployments were analyzed and broken down into two data items: mutual aid requests and types of calls for service.
Mutual aid requests occur when another law enforcement agency outside of WCSO requests our assistance in a time of emergency, and services, personnel, and/or equipment between law enforcement agencies is exchanged to help the other agency restore their jurisdiction to a non-emergent state. In 2024, WCSO drones were requested through mutual aid and deployed to assist other agencies 19 times.
Non-mutual aid requests are calls for service where WCSO personnel requested the assistance of a drone. In 2024, there were 20 non-mutual aid requests for the assistance of a drone on a call for service.
Deployments were analyzed to determine what type of calls for service WCSO drone pilots deployed for in 2024. Out of the 39 deployments, 15 were for persons crimes, 13 were for other crimes that did not fall into the categories of persons, property, missing persons, or animal calls. Agency drones were also deployed 5 times to assist for missing persons calls, 6 deployments were to assist in property crimes, and none of our agency drones were deployed for animal-related calls in 2024.
WCSO drones were most often deployed in 2024 to assist in calls for service related to person’s crimes and to assist our own personnel. It is worth noting, none of the data discussed in this report includes the number of times WCSO drones were deployed strictly for training purposes.