drone flights over Los Angeles that day.

10:40 am

first takeoff; the last was at 6:33 pm.

9 min

median flight. Half were shorter.

Los Angeles police drones flew 24 times on Saturday 3 January 2026, the first at 10:40 am and the last at 6:33 pm PST, by Los Angeles Police Department's published record.

24 drawable flights of 24. Each path is the whole flight, simplified; a flight with a sensitive stated purpose is drawn as an area.

One flight, takeoff to landingSensitive-purpose flight, as an area

Hour by hour

Takeoffs by hour, PST.

12a1a2a3a4a5a6a7a8a9a10a11a12p1p2p3p4p5p6p7p8p9p10p11p

Why, in the agency's words

Radio call54%
Training and testing38%
Patrol support4%
Not stated4%

Flights, in order

24 flights. Those in the latest full month link to their own page; a flight with a sensitive stated purpose has no page of its own.

Takeoff (PST)	Purpose	Airborne	Flight
10:40 am	Radio call	10 min	`eccd2f50`
10:53 am	Patrol support	8 min	`116e7cf2`
11:01 am	Training and testing	4 min	`dfd2cbff`
11:10 am	Training and testing	5 min	`dfdbc2db`
11:21 am	Radio call	17 min	`daff58d0`
11:24 am	Radio call	11 min	`071b46e9`
11:29 am	Training and testing	2 min	`40690c4e`
11:37 am	Training and testing	1 min 51 s	`fd7c913d`
11:49 am	Radio call	16 min	`d66954fa`
12:02 pm	Radio call	6 min	`61f165c7`
12:24 pm	Radio call	6 min	`ad8cca3a`
12:40 pm	Not stated	14 min	`48255cd6`
12:40 pm	Radio call	11 min	`b32f8565`
12:44 pm	Training and testing	19 s	`38f50d65`
12:59 pm	Radio call	20 min	`68bd5fc2`
1:07 pm	Radio call	17 min	`e481c194`
1:11 pm	Radio call	20 min	`55e7e3f8`
1:27 pm	Training and testing	1 min 54 s	`62bdeece`
1:36 pm	Training and testing	14 min	`d0ea08b6`
2:09 pm	Radio call	22 min	`8c9dfb34`
2:20 pm	Training and testing	1 min 23 s	`5362019e`
2:22 pm	Radio call	39 s	`acbbfb7e`
3:38 pm	Radio call	11 min	`ab1ccd62`
6:33 pm	Training and testing	1 min 24 s	`4cc036f2`

How this page is made

Every flight in the agency's published record is counted and listed; drawn paths are the whole flight, takeoff to landing.
The record's free-text description is never read into a page. A flight whose stated purpose names a domestic, sexual-assault, kidnapping, welfare, mental-health or juvenile matter is listed like any other but drawn as a generalised area, not a path.
Operators are the agency's own accounts in the record, numbered within the agency in order of first flight; no name or address is read into a page.
Purposes are the agency's own words, grouped into classes by a fixed list of terms; unmatched values are "Other" and blank ones "Not stated".
Times are shown on the agency's own local clock.
A day is the agency's local calendar day of takeoff.

Corrections and questions: see the about page. See about this site for the sources and the publication rules.