Drones with live camera feed give St. Petersburg police officers real-time information during active calls

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - St. Petersburg police officers have a new vantage point on crime scenes before they even step out of their patrol cars, thanks to a fleet of 11 drones that have cameras that live stream information about suspects and scenes, and get there in half the time.

The backstory:

Officers have used drones since 2019 for things like traffic investigations, SWAT and to give a bird’s eye view of the initial damage after the 2024 hurricanes. They started using them to respond to active police calls, though, in March 2025.

Three docked drones and their docking stations on SPPD’s roof are called a Drone Hive. It launched earlier this year.

Pilots in the department’s new Real Time Intelligence Center remotely control them, relaying real-time information to officers before they even get to a scene. They can also broadcast the live feed for command staff to watch.

What they're saying:

"The drones are not here to replace the officers on the streets," Chief Anthony Holloway said. "The drones, they're here as a tool so we can get to the scenes quicker and we can give the officers more information so they can arrive safer, so they could see what's going on," he said. "A drone can gather intel for us."

"It’s radically improving the efficiency and safety," Sergeant Robert Long, Supervisor of Real Time Intelligence Center, said. "I tell my guys all times the main three priorities we have are to increase officer safety, to improve efficiency of the way we're handling the call from the front end, and then the evidence that it helps for in court later."

By the numbers:

Almost 40 officers are trained as pilots and can check out the other drones and deploy them from their patrol cars. Pilots in the Intelligence Center can remotely take control of them to help the officers in the field.

"It gives you a whole new level of situational awareness and how to deploy your resources more efficiently," Sergeant Long said.

Since the drone program started responding to active police calls in March of 2025, the technology has been deployed for more than 860 police calls for service.

"With our setup and the amount of drones we have, we focus on our priority one and two calls, which are higher level, if you think felony level calls typically," Sergeant Long said. "As our resources improve, we can assist more."

Dig deeper:

They also use the drones for missing person calls. The drones help set up a scene’s perimeter faster too, Chief Holloway said.

"You might not see us, but the drone sees you and the officers are on their way," Chief Holloway said.

The drones can reach speeds of 46 mph, often arriving at a scene while officers are still navigating traffic.

The drones are also equipped with thermal imaging for nighttime operations. In the Intelligence Center, analysts supplement the drone feeds by monitoring several hundred city-owned cameras in public spots across St. Pete.

What's next:

Department officials said they intend to grow the program significantly. Over the next two years, the agency plans to install four additional drone hives at locations throughout the city, bringing the total fleet to more than 20 drones.