The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) program. This allows us to use unmanned aircrafts — often called drones — during emergency events. The program enables a more thorough and safer emergency response at incident and event sites in Philadelphia.

We adhere to a strict privacy, civil rights, and data retention policy, which you can download on this page.

You can send complaints about violations of this policy to OEM@phila.gov. We thoroughly investigate and address these complaints. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can report your complaint to the Inspector General.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has authorized our use of UAS. To learn more about their drone program, visit the FAA’s website. To learn more about other UAS programs within the City, contact your department of interest.