Transforming Emergency Response: How One-Click Drone Requests Improve Officer Safety and Response Time

The challenge of real-time responses

Imagine an officer responding to a domestic disturbance in a dense urban neighborhood. As the situation escalates, they need backup, but heavy traffic delays additional units. With limited visibility and rising tension, the risks increase for everyone involved.

Public safety agencies are under immense pressure to respond to threats swiftly and decisively. Officers in the field often navigate evolving calls for service with limited visibility and resources. Dispatchers juggle multiple calls and can struggle to effectively allocate personnel, while command staff must make split-second decisions, often with incomplete information. These challenges can lead to delayed responses and heightened risks.

Urban environments add to this complexity. Congested streets, unpredictable traffic, and blind spots make it difficult to assess evolving situations. In such high-pressure contexts, having an eye in the sky isn’t just helpful—it can be life-saving.

One-click drone request: Help where it’s needed, when it’s needed

As part of Axon Air DFR, the one-click drone request feature—coming later this year—is designed to integrate Axon body-worn cameras into Skydio’s DFR Command platform. This seamless integration will allow officers and operators to dispatch Skydio X10 drones with pinpoint accuracy to an officer’s real-time location. By combining real-time body camera data with autonomous drone technology, agencies will gain immediate aerial support, enhancing situational awareness for command staff and improving officer safety on the ground.

Whether it’s a rapidly evolving incident or a routine call that suddenly escalates, the one-click drone request feature will help ensure that aerial support is just a click away. Here’s how the feature will work:

Operator-initiated drone deployment

Operators can view and monitor officer BWC locations on an interactive map or concise list through DFR Command. They can view live BWC feeds through Axon Fusus, ensuring full situational awareness.

If an operator determines that an officer needs additional support, they can dispatch a drone to the officer’s exact GPS location with a single click. Advanced AI ensures the drone navigates autonomously, avoiding obstacles and arriving on scene in as little as two minutes to provide critical overhead intelligence.

Officer-initiated drone requests

Officers can also request drone support by pressing a dedicated button on their Axon body-worn cameras. This request is immediately visible in DFR Command, where the operator can trigger the drone’s deployment without additional calls or approvals.
With Axon’s One-Click Drone Request, agencies will ensure:

Rapid aerial support – Skydio X10 drones are equipped with Skydio’s AI-driven obstacle avoidance and NightSense technology, allowing them to navigate complex environments with ease and arrive on scene quickly.
Smarter resource allocation – Rapidly deploying autonomous drones frees up personnel for other calls for service.
Unified ground and aerial visibility – Dispatchers can view live drone feeds alongside other camera feeds in Axon Fusus.
Improved officer safety – Aerial intelligence helps officers assess risks before engaging.

Unifying connected devices for better responses

Axon Air DFR is part of the larger Axon Ecosystem, bridging the gap between ground-level body-worn camera footage and aerial drone intelligence. This integration helps agencies streamline operations, improve coordination between field officers and command staff, and make faster, more informed decisions. With Axon Air DFR and one-click drone requests, public safety agencies will be able to respond more effectively in dynamic environments and protect more lives in more places.

Public Safety

Federal

Enterprise

Products

Transforming emergency response: How one-click drone requests Improve officer safety and response time