Bloomington Police are trying to dispel rumors and stigmas surrounding drone use by the department.
Police Chief Jamal Simington compared the use of drones to other advances in technology that police use: DNA, fingerprinting, and radar guns for monitoring speed.
"History tells us community members have struggled with advancements in law enforcement for many many years. This is nothing new," Simington said.
Sgt. Jared Bierbaum is the drone coordinator for Bloomington Police Department. He told the small audience of a few community members at a public forum Tuesday night that not every drone they see in the sky is from the department, but he can understand the unsettling feeling of seeing a drone hovering over one's property.
Any BPD drone flights are publicly tracked and posted to the department's website. The map is not required by state law, and not all agencies use them.
Bierbaum said drones give police departments access to the air that was previously impossible because of cost and staffing.
According to the department presentation, more than 400 agencies in Illinois report owning drones.
BPD conducted 467 flights in 2025.
So far in 2026, they have conducted 464 flights with 406 of those being training flights.
However, Bierbaum emphasized the devices have multiple uses, and aren't inherently used as cameras, facial recognition devices, thermal cameras or license plate readers.
"Drones itself are just an aerial vehicle," he said. "Not all drones utilized have every ... bit of equipment on them."
The department's drone policy is publicly posted on its website. It follows two state laws — the Drones as First Responders Act, and the Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act.
The policy requires only trained pilots fly the drones, that they report their flight paths and that any images or video captured by the drone are securely downloaded. BPD drone pilots have licenses and get continual training.
What drones does the department own?
BPD owns three Skydio X10 drones. The Skydio drone displayed at the community forum was large and grey with four helicopter blades. In the middle was a camera, spotlight, speaker and nighttime sensors. It can fly five miles out from where it is deployed, and can stay in the air for about 35 minutes depending on the conditions. It can flight up to 45 miles per hour, depending on weather conditions and how much weight it is carrying. Those are the models most frequently used by the department.
Another drone the department owns is a Fotokite Tethered drone. It is smaller and black with one large blade propelling it upwards. It has a tether about 150 feet long, and floats in one stable place instead of maneuvering through the air.
BPD also owns two Skydio R10s, which are lighter weight and made for indoor use. Both have a 20-minute battery life.
The department is currently decommissioning about four older drones, and will add more Skydio X10s to its drone fleet.
The devices are controlled by a large grey remote that looks similar to a handheld gaming console. A pilot must have someone watching the drone alongside them.
Soon, BPD would like to install a drone dock on its roof for its Skydio models, shortening the time it takes to start a flight.
The department also has a Dedrone trailer that detects and identifies drones in the airspace above Bloomington. It can also locate the pilot, but it does not have any information about the pilot beyond where they are standing.
BPD cannot enforce the airspace — that is up to the jurisdiction to the Federal Aviation Administration. BPD would make sure the pilot has a TRUST certificate, which means they have been trained on aeronautical safety for unmanned aerial devices.
Only pilots who use drones for commercial or business purposes need a license.
What drones can be used for
The policy only allows drone reconnaissance for specific situations. Police can use the drone after securing a warrant, but the warrant is limited to a period of 45 days. That period can be extended by 45 days at a judge's discretion.
The drones also can be sent out to arrive on scene first, before officers. Not every 911 call results in a drone response — for example, if the situation is indoors.
Otherwise, the drone can be used for information gathering during high-risk situations, such as during a terrorist attack or when "swift action is needed" to prevent harm to others, a suspect getting away, or the destruction of evidence.
"If someone has robbed a bank and they are running across the street with a gun," Bierbaum offered as an example.
However, that use of the drones is limited to 48 hours, and the department must report the drone surveillance to the McLean County State's Attorney within 24 hours. That requirement does not apply to drone use for terrorist attacks.
Police can deploy the drone to search for a missing person, so long as that missing person is not also a criminal suspect, which could require a warrant.
Police also can use the drones to get a bird's-eye view of crash scenes, but must limit themselves to that area. The drones can capture images and video of designated buildings at the request of local government agencies, and survey natural disaster damage.
Bierbaum said the department used drones to survey tornado damage after two twisters swept through the area in April. He also said other agencies have drones, which means they are not often approached for surveying buildings.
Lastly, the drones can be used to monitor "routed" events, like parades, from the sky. They can be used to monitor crowd size and density, and to keep an eye out for trouble. Ahead of the event, they can be used to determine staging areas and traffic routes. The department must post notice that drones will be in use 24 hours during the event.
BPD has a waiver from the FAA allowing them to fly drones outside of the visual line of sight.
What drones cannot be used for
The policy specifically prohibits using drones to oversee a protest, march, demonstration or other First Amendment- protected activity.
Also prohibited is "random surveillance activities" targeting someone based on race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, religion or disability, or using drones for personal reasons. They also cannot monitor traffic; the drones BPD has are not equipped with radar or lidar technology.
"We don't have drones on autonomous flight paths in Bloomington," said Bierbaum, adding using drones for proactive policing is prohibited. "Our drones can't just fly around in the airspace ... looking for things to do, recording video so we can look at it later... we can't do that."
Bierbaum also said when a drone is sent to a scene, it cannot capture other video along the way.
Drones cannot use facial recognition technology during flight, in accordance with the state's Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act, unless in the event of a terrorist attack or when "swift action is needed" to prevent harm, the escape of a suspect, or the destruction of evidence. State law prevents images and footage from being used later with facial recognition software.
The policy also prohibits weaponizing a drone or attaching or transporting weaponry using it.
Drone pilots must tag the purpose of the flight, and it must be one of the uses outlined above. Bierbaum said there are "no exceptions."
The BPD drone transparency dashboard includes the time and date of the flight, the catergorical use and a short description of why the drone was flown. The map outlines the drone's winding flight path. The information can take a couple days to upload after a drone flight.
"You're able to see where the flight flew," Bierbaum said. "Every flight gets loaded on to here."
How long are the images and footage stored for?
Under BPD's drone policy, most footage will be destroyed within 30 days. Footage gathered during a parade, concert, or other special event will be destroyed within 24 hours.
If police are asked to capture footage of a specific building at the request of a government agency, it must destroy that footage after it is sent over to the agency.
Some information can be kept at the discretion of a supervisor: if there is reasonable suspicion the image or video contains evidence of a crime, if that information is relevant to an ongoing investigation or trial, if it will be used for training purposes, or if the information is just flight path data, metadata or telemetry information of the drone.
"If it's not evidence or if it's not needed for a training, we don't keep it," Bierbaum said. Often, he said footage is deleted within 48 hours.
