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By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — Seconds after a gunshot is heard across Albuquerque, police launch a drone from a rooftop hive and speed toward the sound. The goal is to arrive before officers, with its camera already rolling, as part of the city’s “drone as a first responder” program.
The Albuquerque Police Department’s (APD) citywide surveillance network, anchored at the Real Time Crime Center (RTCC), integrates drones, gunshot sensors and license plate readers to track suspects and respond in real time, according to city records. Since the program’s 2025 debut, APD has expanded coverage across most of the city. Legal experts and advocates say the public lacks details on operations and costs.
APD has logged 2,345 flights since July 2025, according to spokesperson Franchesca Perdue. She said the Real Time Crime Center uses 10 drones that deploy from six rooftop hives and 10 docking stations now cover 80% of the city. When sensors detect gunfire, Albuquerque police manually dispatch a drone to give officers a real-time view, though the department is working to integrate drones with 911 software so they can launch automatically on certain calls, according to APD. Additionally, the department also uses drones for search and rescue, crashes and pursuits. According to the department, the RTCC also supports Albuquerque Fire and Rescue and Bosque patrols. Footage is uploaded to cloud storage within 48 hours and deleted after 30 days unless criminal activity is found — matching body camera policy. No footage has yet been used in a prosecution.
Even with more than 2,000 launches, APD says they are still working out the kinks. The department confirmed one crash caused by interference from a high-voltage line.
Drone policy and privacy concerns
To protect privacy, APD policy dictates cameras face the horizon until reaching a call, “to enhance airspace awareness and safeguard community members’ expectation of privacy.” The policy also sets limits on how officers can use the technology. Officers cannot target people by race or ethnicity, nor use drones for personal surveillance or filming lawful protests unless a dispersal order is issued or a riot is declared. Drones cannot be used as weapons and must stay at or below 400 feet.
Civil rights advocates urge caution as the program expands. Daniel Williams, a policy advocate at the ACLU of New Mexico, told City Desk the technology carries “the real and very significant potential to supercharge invasions of privacy, overpolicing and violations of our rights.” Matthew Murrell, an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law, told City Desk that combining drone footage with license plate and gunshot data raises unsettled Fourth Amendment questions. Murrell noted that while flying in public airspace is legal, looking through windows or into fenced backyards crosses a line: “If the drone is doing more than an officer would be allowed to do… then the use of the drone might run into [Fourth Amendment problems].”
Video segments for this story were edited by Julian Paras.