Montgomery County police will triple their drone fleet to 12 aircraft covering 85 square miles, up from four drones and 30 square miles.

Police Chief Marc Yamada announced the expansion at a press conference and demonstration on Tuesday, July 14.

The Bethesda and Wheaton drone stations are part of the program's second phase. Yamada said equipment replacement at those locations will be completed this summer.

The new Skydio X10 drones can reach an incident 75% faster on average than a patrol car, according to police. They fly up to 45 mph, carry thermal and daytime cameras and stay airborne for up to 40 minutes per charge.

What changed

The old system required contractors stationed on rooftops to swap batteries, upload video and maintain line-of-sight with each drone. The new fleet launches autonomously from docking stations and is controlled remotely from the county's Joint Operations Center in Gaithersburg, enabling around-the-clock coverage.

Capt. Tony Galladora, director of the department's operational intelligence division, said the department has hired three full-time drone pilots and has roughly 30 officers trained to fly. Police did not disclose the cost of the new system.

Since the program launched in 2023, MCPD drones have responded to more than 5,000 calls, most often for thefts, assaults, trespassing, burglaries and fire-rescue operations.

A conviction built on drone footage

The department pointed to a Bethesda burglary case as proof of concept. A drone captured defendant Edward Bryant climbing onto a home's porch and through a second-story window. Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said in a statement that the footage was "invaluable for the State." Bryant was sentenced to 15 years in prison for a string of burglaries and thefts.

Privacy concerns

Not everyone is sold. Robert Landau of the Silver Spring Justice Coalition said his group studied the program's first full year and found the public dashboard incomplete.

"What we don't want to see is excessive policing in minority communities," Landau said.

Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the ACLU, warned that self-docking drones with longer flight times and more powerful cameras make the technology "an even more powerful surveillance technology than they already are."

Galladora said the drones do not use facial recognition, carry no microphones and are dispatched only in response to 911 or police-generated calls. Every flight is logged on a public dashboard on the MCPD website, and video is stored under the same rules as body-worn camera footage.

Phase 1 areas, including downtown Silver Spring, White Oak, Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, and Germantown, are already operational. Residents with questions about the drone program can contact MCPD at [email protected] or 240-773-6500.