Colorado police department uses Real Time Crime Center to track drones helping solve crimes, gather evidence

The Commerce City Police Department is using what they call a Real Time Crime Center to track drones in real time that are helping solve crime and prioritize resources. The department calls them DFR or Drone First Responders, that are deployed first.

Once the drone footage is analyzed, the decision can be made about whether an officer is needed at the scene. 

The department said that because of the drones, 14% of calls were cleared last month without sending an officer to the scene. 

"One of the goals of this real-time program and the DFR program is to put time back into our officers' days that they can devote to pro-active community engagement efforts," said Commerce City Police Cmdr. Jeremy Jenkins. 

The department said the drones are only activated for specific 911 calls or alerts and not routine monitoring.