The Lenexa Police Department’s drone program provides airborne support to police operations in a safe, responsible and transparent manner to preserve the peace, reduce incident response times, and increase the quality of life in our community.
Police drones are unmanned aircraft operated remotely and equipped with technology that enhances public safety and supports the Department’s mission.
The Lenexa Police Department first launched a drone program in 2017 as part of our commitment to using progressive technology to enhance public safety and police operations. Since then, the program has evolved into an essential tool for patrol, investigations, search and rescue, emergency response and more.
In 2025, the department took a major step forward by implementing the Drone as a First Responder (DFR) program, which deploys drones directly to emergency calls and active scenes — often arriving minutes before ground units. This expansion builds on years of experience, training, and community trust to ensure we continue serving with intelligence, transparency, and innovation.
Today, we continue to use traditional deployable drones in addition to the DFR program.
Drone as a First Responder (DFR) is a transformative public safety initiative that allows us to:
- Launch drones in real time to priority 911 calls, suspicious activity reports, and active incidents.
- Provide live video feeds to responding officers improving situational awareness and decision-making.
- Reduce response times by assessing scenes faster and deploying resources more efficiently.
- Increase community and officer safety by giving personnel valuable information before arriving on scene.
Our DFR program is operated under a Certificate of Authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration and monitored under strict department policy and federal regulations.
We currently have seven DFRs in operation. These drones are docked in strategic City-owned locations across the community to provide the most efficient range of coverage during a response.
Traditional police drones are typically launched on-scene after officers arrive or in response to planned operations like search and rescue, crash investigations, or crime scene mapping.
DFR drones are launched remotely shortly after a 911 call is received — often arriving on scene within minutes or even seconds. These drones provide real-time video to responding officers and dispatchers, allowing for faster, safer, and more informed decisions before ground units arrive. Unlike traditional deployments, DFR drones operate from fixed locations and are flown remotely by pilots monitoring live incidents as they unfold.
DFR is proactive, not reactive — and that makes all the difference.
In the early stages of the DFR program, data has shown that emergency responses times are two minutes faster, and non-emergency responses times are four minutes faster.
Lenexa Police Department uses drones to assist with:
- Missing or endangered party searches
- Criminal suspect apprehension
- Deployment of appropriate resources
- Response to crimes in progress
- Traffic incident management
- Review of high traffic crash areas (automated at set time each day to collect data)
- Situational awareness when responding to calls for service
- Reconnaissance on tactical missions
- In progress tactical operations
- Hostage situations
- Documentation of crime scenes
- Documentation of crash scenes
- Pre scouting City events
- Security/overwatch during City events
- Large-scale public disturbances
- Active shooter situations
- Mass casualty events
- Scene analysis
- Communication via loudspeaker
- Mapping critical infrastructure
- Observation of vehicles that run from police
We understand that the use of drones in policing raises important questions. Our program is built with community trust in mind. Here’s how we ensure responsible use:
- All DFR flights related to police calls for service are logged, documented and publicly available.
- Flight videos are recorded and retained per department policy.
- Drones are not used for general surveillance and are only deployed in response to specific incidents or public safety concerns.
- We follow all Federal Aviation Administration regulations, including those related to privacy and airspace restrictions.
Our drone program has played a critical role in keeping our community safe. Whether it’s locating a missing child in a park, helping officers make safer tactical decisions, or documenting crime scenes efficiently, drones allow us to serve with greater speed, precision and care.
The addition of DFR has further improved our service by giving officers real-time insights, allowing better responses while minimizing risk to both the public and law enforcement.