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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 Union Square BID

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

SFPD flew 241 operational drone flights to calls in Union Square BID in the twelve months to Aug 2026, 4% of the 6,464 citywide. Several flights can serve one call: these served 141 dispatch events.

Where drones were sent: the intersections with the most operational flights. Each dot is the intersection of a call in Union Square BID drones were sent to, sized by operational flights, Sep 2025 to Aug 2026.
IntersectionFlights
Eddy St & Mason St40
Market St & Powell St28
Geary St & Powell St23
Geary St & Grant Ave16
Ofarrell St & Powell St12
Ellis St & Powell St10
Post St & Stockton St9
Stockton St & Stockton Tunl & Sutter St8
3rd St & Kearny St & Market St7
4th St & Ellis St & Market St & Stockton St6
5th St & Cyril Magnin St & Market St6
Bush St & Mark Ln6
What the flights were for. Union Square BID, Sep 2025 to Aug 2026: 241 flights to calls here. Gray figures are citywide. Drone sent is the share of all police calls of that type in Union Square BID that had a flight, shown where there were at least 20 calls.
ReasonFlightsShareCitywide
Criminal Investigation23698%83%
Fire / Mutual Aid31%2%
Major or Critical Incidents21%2%
Call types that got a drone.
Call typeFlightsShareCitywideCallsDrone sent
SUSPICIOUS PERSON3018%11%1,7041% (0%)
ARREST MADE2012%5%229% (8%)
MISC1811%10%3123% (3%)
WANTED VEHICLE / SUB169%15%4110% (10%)
PERSON W/GUN159%12%6919% (17%)
STRONGARM ROBBERY148%5%3926% (14%)
ASSAULT / BATTERY138%5%4033% (1%)
GRAND THEFT127%—918% (4%)
PETTY THEFT116%—5521% (1%)
AUTO BOOST / STRIP95%6%737% (4%)
SHOTS FIRED74%—248% (7%)
COMPLAINT UNKN53%—3100% (0%)
The calls that got a drone. Calls in Union Square BID that got a drone, with the citywide figure beside it.
ShareCalls
Priority A calls63% (citywide 63%)Priority A 89, B 18, C 34
Officer-initiated30% (citywide 32%)Officer on view 43, resident call 98
How calls with a drone ended. Resident calls in Union Square BID 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 202611000
Jul 20269000
Jun 20265000
May 20264000
Apr 20265000
Mar 20269000
Feb 20265001
Jan 20265000
Dec 20256000
Nov 202516000
Oct 20259000
Sep 20252000
All months since Nov 2024970 (0%)0 (0%)3 (3%)
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