Parker Town Council on Monday received an overview of a proposed public safety technology package that would add drone first responder capabilities and new automatic license plate reader cameras for the Parker Police Department.

No formal vote was taken during the Monday study session, and police officials emphasized that no purchase decision has been made.

The proposal comes after Douglas County commissioners approved a similar public safety technology initiative in July that includes drones, license plate readers and a real-time information center.

The package under consideration includes a Drone as First Responder program using Skydio drones and Axon automated license plate reader cameras.

According to town documents, the technology is being evaluated as a way to improve response times, increase officer safety and help address staffing challenges facing law enforcement agencies.

The proposal would add about $175,000 annually to the police department’s existing Axon contract, which currently totals roughly $530,000 per year.

Commander Jake Schuster of the Parker Police Department said the technologies could serve as a force multiplier by providing officers with more information before they arrive at a scene and helping investigators solve crimes more efficiently.

“Public safety is confronting a growing crisis with a smaller workforce, more risks to officers and decaying public trust,” Schuster told council members. “We believe this technology could help us to enhance our response times and provide for the citizens of Parker.” 

Under the proposed drone program, drones would be launched in response to calls for service and provide live video feeds to officers and dispatchers before police arrive.

Police officials said the drones would not be used for routine neighborhood patrols and would only be deployed in response to specific incidents.

Police presented results from a weeklong pilot program conducted in June. According to the department, drones completed 112 missions during the trial, arrived before officers on approximately 22% of calls and helped resolve 4.5% of incidents without requiring a patrol response. 

Officials said officers reported the drones were useful in roughly 90% of deployments.

The department is recommending an initial deployment of one drone “hive” consisting of three docked drones.

The proposal also calls for the installation of 10 additional automated license plate reader cameras. The system would complement Parker’s existing network of Flock license plate reader cameras.

Officials said policies governing drone deployment, data retention, transparency and accountability would be developed before any implementation.

A significant portion of the discussion focused on privacy concerns.

Council members questioned how data would be stored, who would have access to it and what safeguards would prevent misuse. 

Axon representatives said Parker would retain ownership of all collected data and that information sharing with other agencies would require specific agreements rather than automatic participation in a national network.

Officials emphasized that the proposed system would not be able to identify individuals automatically, though it could track a person once selected by an operator.

Police officials recommended a phased approach that would begin with one drone hive, 10 additional license plate reader cameras and the supporting software platforms before considering future expansion.

The study session concluded without council direction or a vote.