As drone technology has progressed, the number of UAVs on the market has grown dramatically, both in the law enforcement industry and in the consumer market. But the number of software solutions, sensors and devices used to detect and mitigate in order to both clear airspace and combat nefarious drones has taken equally big leaps forward over the last few years.

During the Motorola Solutions Summit in Orlando this past spring, OFFICER Magazine spoke to Melissa Swisher, Chief Revenue Officer at SkySafe, about how law enforcement officials should approach drone detection as it becomes more a part of their jobs. A few weeks earlier at Axon Week in Nashville, we spoke to Travis Scott, Vice President of Commercial Sales at Dedrone, which was acquired by Axon in 2024, about the opportunities that state and local law enforcement agencies now have to gain access to drone mitigation technology.

Drone detection

SkySafe’s cloud-based drone detection technology allows law enforcement agencies to detect, analyze and act on suspicious drones. “The drone world is exploding. From good use, and then, of course, with every good use comes nefarious use,” says Swisher. There are more drone deliveries with Amazon and DoorDash. And then there are a lot of drones out there doing surveying. And then, there’s the law enforcement drones, like DFR. But you need to have good visibility to understand not only the good drones but also the things that are unidentified.”

She added that SkySafe tries to help agencies understand what type of drone it is and that they can’t just rely on remote ID. “The people who are doing things that aren’t great aren’t registering with the FAA. They’re spoofing something to provide a remote ID. SkySafe adds a layer to that by decrypting and demodulating those drones,” she says. “For the rest of those, that other 80%, how do we give the information related to not only that drone type, the make, the model, the serial number, historical detail and patterns? Because that’s a piece of what really gives law enforcement that full picture.”

The use of drone detection by law enforcement is still in its infancy, and because of that, there is a lot of education that needs to be done. “It’s a process. I think what is great is there is a need and demand now. That is visible with Drone as First Responder. I think that next piece is really the evolution of what we do is the full airspace picture,” says Swisher. “There’s a little bit of, ‘How do we continue to evolve with how the world is changing?’ If you think about your first cell phone to the cell phones of today, that technology continues to evolve. The same thing is happening with drones. Being educated in this new world is important, and I think we’re starting to bridge that gap.”

Not only does SkySafe help agencies detect and locate drones, but also investigates them after the fact. In the case a suspicious drone is found on the premises of a corrections facility — where they have often been used to smuggle in drugs and contraband — the company can collect data from the SIM card within the drone. “We can collect that forensics data, decrypt that drone, and give the agency that evidence in terms of flight patterns and other information that can be submissible in court,” she says. “There’s a lot of times where people are doing practice runs. There was an instance where a suspect was practicing drug drops at his home. Inadvertently, a video taken by the drone captured the license plate on his vehicle. The agency was able to apprehend the suspect with the help of his practice drug drops.”

Last year, SkySafe and Motorola Solutions finalized a formal strategic alliance between the two companies. The alliance integrates SkySafe capabilities with Motorola Solutions’ CommandCentral Aware, creating a single, unified view of operations on the ground and in the air. “So often what we hear is, ‘If there are drones in the sky, what do we do about them?’ That kind of is the big question that we’ve been trying to solve, and I think that is where we can offer a lending hand to the comprehensive solution that Motorola Solutions is offering to the market.”

Drone mitigation

Up until just recently, only federal agencies had the ability to mitigate suspicious drones domestically. Thanks to the Safer Skies Act, passed last December, there is a new pathway for state and local agencies to have the authority to use the same tools as their federal counterparts. The authorization process involves a three-week FBI CounterUAS training course that agencies send officers to at the FBI at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

There currently is a long waitlist for the training course, but Scott is optimistic that will change. World Cup host cities were prioritized, but now that the tournament has concluded, he says that more agencies will have access to the training. He does believe that large-scale international events like the World Cup and the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles has helped push forward drone mitigation technology in U.S. airspace.

“I think it’s been extremely critical. That’s been the one step that a lot of agencies have really been looking for,” he says. “Up until recently, they’ve had to rely on their federal partners at large-scale events where their federal counterparts are out there in support of the event.”

Dedrone’s counter-drone and airspace awareness solutions include sensors and other devices like Omnidirectional jammers and handheld jammers like the newly announced handheld DedroneDefender 2. Scott says that devices like the DeroneDefender offer a precise solution, but that Omnidirectional jammers can prove beneficial for some agencies, especially those with corrections facilities. “The handheld unit is great because it integrates with the system as well. It alerts you when there’s a drone near, but you have to have somebody constantly on patrol to be able to be out there to actually utilize it,” he says. “The Omnidirectional jammer is designed to be on a rooftop, and anytime a drone is detected, it will have the ability to mitigate it. Somebody can activate it from a keyboard in the operations center. They don’t have to be outside on patrol at all times.”

When a drone is jammed, the original loses control of the unit. The jammer severs the radio frequency connection from the controller to the drone. The drone then goes into hover mode and slowly comes down. “I think that at face value there’s an initial public concern that now agencies are jamming every drone,” says Scott. “The reality of the situation is that there are very clear guidelines of when they can mitigate and the different qualifications that are met in order to mitigate a drone threat. The only drones that they’re going to be mitigating are the ones that really do pose safety and security risk.”