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Residents who want to track Farmers Branch police drone activity, request footage or file a complaint have several public tools available through the city and its drone vendor.
The Farmers Branch Police Department directs residents to a public flight dashboard operated by Flock Safety. The site logs drone launches, flight paths and the reason for each deployment. Users can also adjust the date range to search past flights.
The dashboard is available at:
community.farmers-branch.tx.us.aerodome.com/flights
The city is also building out a police transparency page with information about the Drone as First Responder program and the department’s Flock Safety portal.
Police officials said the city is continuing to expand the page and plans to include additional information about its license plate reader program.
The page is available at:
farmersbranchtx.gov/1712/Police-Transparency
The department said the drones do not record continuously. Recording begins only when operators are documenting a potential crime or active incident.
When video is recorded, it is stored for at least 30 days in Flock Safety’s cloud system. Footage used as evidence is transferred to the department’s evidence management system, Evidence.com.
Residents can request footage through the city’s Open Records Request process. However, some recordings may be withheld under state law if they involve ongoing investigations or protected information.
Residents who want to report concerns or file a complaint about a specific drone flight can do so through the Police Department’s compliments and complaints page:
farmersbranchtx.gov/424/Police-Compliments-Complaints
Texas Government Code Section 423.008 requires some law enforcement agencies to publish periodic drone-use reports, but the requirement applies only to cities with populations above 150,000. Farmers Branch is below that threshold and is not required to publish an annual report.
The department said it will continue releasing information through public records requests and other transparency tools.
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