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SFPD drone flights

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Where and why the Police Department flies drones, from its published flight log.

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SFPD drone flights in Civic Center CBD

Flights since May 16, 2024; the latest in the city's log is from Aug 31, 2026 · source updated Sep 25, 2026.

SFPD flew 203 operational drone flights to calls in Civic Center CBD in the twelve months to Aug 2026, 3% of the 6,464 citywide. Several flights can serve one call: these served 131 dispatch events.

Where drones were sent: the intersections with the most operational flights. Each dot is the intersection of a call in Civic Center CBD drones were sent to, sized by operational flights, Sep 2025 to Aug 2026.
IntersectionFlights
Fulton St & Larkin St30
9th St & Jessie St17
7th St & Charles J Brenham Pl & Market St10
Larkin St & Mcallister St9
Leavenworth St & United Nations Plz9
11th St & Market St7
Gough St & Haight St & Market St7
Leavenworth St & Mcallister St7
Market St & South Van Ness Ave & Van Ness Ave7
10th St & Fell St & Market St & Polk St6
Franklin St & Fulton St6
Franklin St & Hickory St6
What the flights were for. Civic Center CBD, Sep 2025 to Aug 2026: 203 flights to calls here. Gray figures are citywide. Drone sent is the share of all police calls of that type in Civic Center CBD that had a flight, shown where there were at least 20 calls.
ReasonFlightsShareCitywide
Criminal Investigation19797%83%
Major or Critical Incidents52%2%
Fire / Mutual Aid10%2%
Call types that got a drone.
Call typeFlightsShareCitywideCallsDrone sent
SUSPICIOUS PERSON3121%11%1,8681% (0%)
SUSPICIOUS VEHICLE2013%13%2744% (2%)
PERSON W/GUN1711%12%6022% (17%)
TRAFFIC STOP149%—1,1861% (0%)
WANTED VEHICLE / SUB128%15%8211% (10%)
BURGLARY117%9%1865% (3%)
PERSON W/KNIFE107%—848% (6%)
STABBING107%—2512% (15%)
FIGHT NO WEAPON85%4%8631% (0%)
ARREST MADE75%5%559% (8%)
STRONGARM ROBBERY75%5%3213% (14%)
ASSAULT / BATTERY43%5%2901% (1%)
The calls that got a drone. Calls in Civic Center CBD that got a drone, with the citywide figure beside it.
ShareCalls
Priority A calls58% (citywide 63%)Priority A 76, B 28, C 27
Officer-initiated42% (citywide 32%)Officer on view 55, resident call 74
How calls with a drone ended. Resident calls in Civic Center CBD that got a drone, by the month of the call. SFPD plans a SoMa pilot this fall in which officers watching drone footage decide whether an officer is needed on site (Mission Local). Percentages appear for months with at least 20 calls.
MonthCalls with a droneNo officer on sceneCancelledPriority lowered
Aug 20266000
Jul 20268000
Jun 20267100
May 20266000
Apr 20266000
Mar 20266000
Feb 20265000
Jan 20265000
Nov 20257000
Oct 20259100
Sep 20255000
Aug 20254000
All months since Dec 2024972 (2%)0 (0%)1 (1%)
Neighborhoods ranked by flights per resident. Operational flights per 1,000 residents, Sep 2025 to Aug 2026. Citywide counts the flights to calls with a known location, divided by the whole city's residents. Areas under 1,000 residents are listed last, without a rate.
#NeighborhoodPer 1,000 residents× citywideFlightsDispatch events
Citywide6.71.0×5,530
1South of Market32.14.8×829550
2Financial District/South Beach18.82.8×460293
3Tenderloin18.82.8×602370
4Mission15.82.4×868546
5North Beach10.61.6×11871
6Presidio9.71.5×3812
7Bayview Hunters Point9.01.3×338198
8Chinatown8.01.2×9743
9Treasure Island7.81.2×1913
10Mission Bay7.31.1×12890
11Western Addition7.11.1×159111
12Japantown6.71.0×2719
13Nob Hill6.71.0×15879
14Hayes Valley6.30.9×11980
15Lakeshore5.80.9×7035
16Russian Hill5.80.9×10150
17Potrero Hill5.60.8×9053
18Castro/Upper Market5.00.8×11079
19Pacific Heights4.50.7×10253
20Marina4.50.7×10473
21Portola4.30.6×6335
22Bernal Heights4.00.6×9649
23Twin Peaks3.40.5×2614
24Presidio Heights2.60.4×2621
25Inner Richmond2.60.4×5317
26Seacliff2.40.4×66
27Noe Valley2.30.3×5132
28Outer Richmond2.30.3×9761
29Visitacion Valley2.20.3×3729
30Lone Mountain/USF2.10.3×3325
31Excelsior2.00.3×7630
32Inner Sunset1.90.3×5229
33Haight Ashbury1.90.3×3226
34Sunset/Parkside1.70.3×12984
35Glen Park1.60.2×1413
36Oceanview/Merced/Ingleside1.40.2×3420
37West of Twin Peaks1.30.2×4828
38Outer Mission1.20.2×2615
—Golden Gate Park——8138
—McLaren Park——97
—Lincoln Park——43

Method

Source: SFPD Drone Flight Logs (giw5-ttjs on DataSF), one row per flight since May 16, 2024. Flights logged as training or testing are not counted as operational. The log has recorded them only since September 2025. Each flight is placed at the location of its call in the police dispatch data, matched by CAD number, the same way the police page places calls. The log's own location is the general area of the operation and can be a launch site, so it is not used. 85% of operational flights match a dispatch record with a location. The rest count citywide only. A month appears once the city's log covers its last day. The 12-week and 4-week periods end at the latest flight in the log. Until September 2025 the reason for a flight was free text. Since then it is one of a few set categories. Where the log gives an incident report number instead of a CAD number, as it often did before October 2025, the flight is linked through that report's CAD number. For each call type, the share with a drone counts police calls of that original type, minus duplicates but including cancelled calls, that had a flight on the day of the call or the next day. About one linked flight in ten comes later, as a follow-up investigation, and is not counted in that share or in the month-by-month table. Rates divide by the 2020–2024 American Community Survey population. Drones are sent to serious, active incidents, so these calls are not typical police calls. Nothing here is compared with response times.

Every figure here is also in https://sfresponse.org/data/drones.json.

Operational flights per month

Citywide

Where drones were sent

Most flights

What the flights were for

Stated reason

Call type of the linked dispatch

The calls that got a drone

How calls with a drone ended

Neighborhoods ranked by flights per resident