After Police1 reported on a drone-based security system at Deltona High School in Florida, we asked readers: Would you want drone support during an active shooter response at your school?
A drone could give responding officers a view inside a school or draw a shooter’s attention away from students.
For Police1 Facebook commenters, those possibilities came with a question: What happens when the hallways are crowded, multiple agencies are responding and the pilot is operating from another state?
The Campus Guardian Angel system, made by Texas-based Mithril Defense, uses remotely piloted drones designed to locate, distract and potentially incapacitate an attacker before officers arrive. The drones carry sirens, strobe lights and pepper gel and can ram an attacker if those measures fail.
Some commenters saw an opportunity to give officers more information and buy time. Others questioned whether drones engaging a shooter would create additional problems for people trying to escape and officers moving toward the threat.
Here’s what readers said.
A view inside, with officers close behind
Several Facebook commenters supported using drones to help officers see what they are entering.
“Drone surveillance, drone intel gathering in these situations, Yes. Drone attacking and causing even more panic? No,” one commenter wrote.
Another saw a narrower tactical advantage in using a drone immediately ahead of responding officers.
“Sending it in with team close behind seems like a slight edge,” the commenter wrote.
One reader said a drone could provide eyes and ears inside while its operator worked without the immediate threat of being shot. The reader also saw value in forcing an attacker to focus on something other than people.
“Any time the shooter spends focusing on the drone is time they’re not focusing on kids, teachers, or responding officers,” the commenter wrote.
Remote operations raise questions about training
Who would fly the drones, and how well they would know the school, became another point of discussion.
Campus Guardian Angel uses trained pilots in Austin, Texas, who can access school security cameras, onboard cameras and digital maps to locate a threat.
Some commenters preferred having an operator at or near the school.
“Unless the drone operator is on scene immediately, no,” one wrote.
Another favored an AI-controlled system, arguing that autonomous drones could respond faster and more precisely than remote pilots.
For one commenter, the larger issue was whether operators and responders would practice together before an emergency.
“You don’t want the day lives are at stake to be the first day the remote pilots are trying to zip around the school and trying to figure out what’s happening while looking through the straw of a drone camera feed,” the commenter wrote.
The Volusia Sheriff’s Office has trained with Campus Guardian Angel pilots at Deltona High School, including scenarios focused on communication between school resource deputies and remote operators.
Would demonstrations translate to a crowded school?
Other commenters questioned how the drones would perform amid fleeing students and a response involving multiple agencies.
One reader who had watched testing videos said the demonstrations left those questions unanswered.
“One thing they don’t show is hallways full of panicked kids and how it will be able to work with all the various agencies that will be responding,” the commenter wrote.
Others questioned whether pepper gel and strobes would stop an attacker or whether someone could disable the drones. One argued that attackers would adapt their tactics once they knew the system was in use.
Another called the technology “an awesome idea” but questioned its emphasis on reacting to an attack rather than preventing one.
The comments showed interest in drones that could help officers locate a shooter and see inside a school. Support was less certain when the discussion turned to drones using force, with readers questioning how that would fit into the response already underway.
Would you want drone support during an active shooter response at your school? Why or why not?
