By Bryan Horwath
Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS — At the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fusion Watch and Drone Operations Center Wednesday afternoon, an alarm went off as rows of workers looked at a sea of screens that showed real-time feeds from cameras around Las Vegas.
The alert — similar to what a cellphone alarm might sound like — meant there had been a hit from an automated license plate reader that located a stolen vehicle.
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The Fusion Watch center at Metro’s headquarters — and a fleet of police drones and rooftop launch pads — is part of Sheriff Kevin McMahill’s vision to make Metro into one of the most tech-savvy departments around.
“This is all part of a long-term effort to modernize how we protect this community and how we respond when it matters the most,” McMahill said Wednesday during an unveiling of a new rooftop drone port area at the department’s headquarters in central Las Vegas. “When I ran for sheriff three years ago, I made a commitment to make the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department the most technologically advanced in this country.”
The drone program uses a fleet of several dozen drones and a network of 13 “skyport” rooftop launch pad areas around the city, including the one that local media members and others toured Wednesday afternoon.
Dori Koren, a Metro assistant sheriff, said at the press conference that the department oversaw about 10,000 drone flights in 2025. This year, he said, it expects to roughly double that number.
“Ten thousand missions in a year is more than any other agency in the country,” Koren said. “We’re anticipating about 1,700 flights per month. These are flights that are responding to calls for service and helping the community.”
In all, Metro has about 75 drones at its disposal, which come in a few different shapes and sizes. Koren said the drones are equipped with artificial intelligence technology that prevents them from crashing into fixed objects or other crafts in the sky.
They also have thermal imaging, which can be useful for a number of different purposes, Koren said.
“A few nights ago, there was a 9-year-old child missing and we were able to locate the child in someone else’s backyard by using thermal imaging capability,” Koren said.
A total of 38 drones are considered “dock” drones, which are housed at the 13 skyports and remotely operated by drone pilots in the watch center. Some of the pilots are Metro employees while others are trained civilians.
Last year, the department received the green light from the Federal Aviation Administration for a specific type of authorization to fly drones in areas normally not available to the general public.
Steven Oscar, program manager for the drone operation center, said the Fusion Watch floor has eight pilot bays. The center runs around the clock, he said.
“This is a paradigm shift in police work,” Oscar said. “We’re able to get an aerial asset up so that we don’t have any surprises for our police officers. If somebody calls 311 or 911, they’re able to get an instant response, so they’re not waiting minutes or an hour. It’s a huge benefit for us to have something where we don’t have to send an officer around a corner because we already know what’s back there.”
Oscar said patrolling officers can now request that a drone be sent to a service call ahead of when they arrive. That way, he said, the officer has much more information about what he or she will encounter.
‘What a public-private partnership looks like’
In September, the department announced a continued rollout of its drone program, which was made public in 2024.
Since October of 2024, the department’s officers have been using drones, which some officers store in their vehicles, to help assist in locating suspects.
Oscar said the drone initiative is county-wide, meaning other law enforcement and first responder agencies, like the Henderson Police Department or the North Las Vegas Police Department, can request a drone.
“It could be a house on fire or maybe Henderson needs help,” Oscar said. “We’re coming to help wherever we can with the drones.”
The drones come from a company called Skydio, which is based in San Mateo, California. The company’s CEO, Adam Bry, spoke at the press conference.
While Metro officials didn’t talk about the costs associated with the drone program Wednesday, the program has been supported by a number of private companies.
Along with Skydio, Helix Electric and Martin-Harris Construction have also helped, McMahill said. Another major donor for the program was the Horowitz Family Foundation, started by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ben Horowitz and his wife, Felicia Horowitz, McMahill said.
“This is what a public-private partnership looks like when it’s done right,” McMahill said during his rooftop address Wednesday. “I’d like to thank Ben and Felicia Horowitz for their leadership and generosity in supporting our efforts here in Southern Nevada. Their commitment is rooted in a genuine belief in public safety, innovation, and a responsibility to invest in solutions that save lives.”
Concerns about drone activity
While Wednesday afternoon served as a celebration of sorts for a new type of policing, Athar Haseebullah, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, continued to raise concerns about the data that drones collect and which entities Metro might share it with.
“We have all kinds of concerns,” Haseebullah said when reached by phone Wednesday evening. “We don’t know the full extent of how our law enforcement agencies in Nevada are cooperating with the federal government and with ICE. Are we just to trust the police and trust government when they’re engaging in massive surveillance efforts? How do we know that data won’t be turned over to the federal government or private surveillance companies? The entire notion that Metro is operating under is to just trust them to do the right thing.”
Koren said Metro keeps the civil liberties of citizens in mind whenever it rolls out a new piece of technology to help with its policing efforts in Southern Nevada.
“Every flight is tied to a legitimate public safety purpose,” Koren said. “Every (drone) flight is logged and de-conflicted and audited and the data used is limited, reviewed and policy-driven.”
Haseebullah said the ACLU will continue to keep an eye on how Metro uses its fleet of drones. In the meantime, McMahill and Metro’s leadership don’t seem to be shy at all about trying new technologies.
During a tour of the drone center Wednesday, Sgt. Stephanie Ward, who helps to oversee the center, summed up her thoughts.
“Technology and what we have with our drone operations center, this is absolutely the future of policing,” Ward said.
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.
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