VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The Virginia Beach Police Department is a step closer to using drones to help respond to incidents.
City Council voted Tuesday to give the department $1.3 million to go toward implementing its “Drone as a First Responder Pilot Program.”
“As technology, we’re going to keep investing, it’s becoming integrated in everything that we do,” Police Chief Paul Neudigate said during an April 15 presentation to council. “One of the things that we are looking at as a department, and we think it will benefit the PD, it will probably benefit the fire department, and I could see other public safety agencies, we are now looking into drones as a first responder.”
Neudigate explained it would allow the department to pre-position drones in strategic locations throughout the city.
“We envision probably trying to start with the Oceanfront, if we can get this up in operation, and those drones would be strategically placed,” Neudigate said. “And as we move along, the FAA is no longer requiring that you have visual sight on your drones.”
He said people can now get a waiver for the line-of-sight requirement for drones.
“Say we have a certain call at the Oceanfront and a fight, [or] shots fired, those drones can launch independent of human interaction, respond to that location, get over top and start relaying live video to our real time crime center without our cops even trying to get there,” Neudigate said.
This technology will enhance situational awareness, assist detectives, improve investigative efforts and potentially support other public safety agencies in their operations.
One beachgoer at the Oceanfront shared with 10 On Your Side their thoughts on the program.
“It’s great. I think it’s a smart investment,” Brenden Parker said.
The project is set to be implemented in early 2026, according to Virginia Beach Police Department spokesman Ricky LaBlue. Skydio will be used for this program.
Click here to learn more about the technology.