One of the biggest challenges facing public services is the same in any time-critical situation: how to obtain a reliable picture from the scene as quickly as possible, make the right decision and direct limited resources to where they are truly needed. For the police, rescue services and crisis management, this is not merely a technological issue, but one that directly affects public safety, the state's continuity of operations and its ability to respond.

This is where so-called nest drones are becoming increasingly important. These are drones stationed at predetermined locations in automated docking and charging stations, ready to take off quickly when an alert is received. Internationally, this approach is often referred to as "drone as first responder." The idea is not to replace police officers, border guards or rescue workers, but to give them better situational awareness before they arrive at the scene.

Faster info from the scene

Traditionally, the first information about an incident reaches the emergency response center through a caller's description, the arrival of a patrol unit or later camera footage. A nest drone, however, can provide an aerial view of the scene within the first few minutes. This helps responders assess the type of incident they are dealing with, whether it is a traffic accident, a public order disturbance, a threat of violence, a fire, the search for a missing person, a border-related incident or another situation requiring an urgent response.

What matters is not only speed, but also the quality of the decision-making. The better the situation is understood, the more precisely responders can act, allowing additional resources to be dispatched even before the first police patrol or rescue vehicle arrives at the scene.

International experience, which I discuss below, shows that this is no longer an isolated technological experiment, but a new operating model for public safety. It is important to recognize that the development of nest drones cannot and should not be viewed simply as the purchase of individual devices. It must be approached as the development of a comprehensive capability. The drone nest, flight platform, communications link, command center, data processing, cybersecurity, aviation safety, legal framework, training and public trust must all function as parts of a single integrated system. Privacy and data protection also require particular attention, as people need to know when a drone is being used, who decides to deploy it, what data is collected, how long it is retained and how oversight is ensured.

In Estonia, the next logical step would be a cross-sector pilot program. It should bring together the police and rescue services, aviation regulators, local governments, data protection authorities, research and development institutions and technology partners. The goal should be to test not only the drone itself, but the entire service model — from receiving an emergency call and dispatching the drone to using the video feed, making operational decisions and conducting post-incident analysis. Only then will it be possible to assess the real benefits such a system could provide under Estonian conditions.

Drones as a public safety capability

One of the best-known examples in the United States is Chula Vista, California, where the police use drones to support emergency response. A drone is often dispatched to the scene before a patrol unit or at the same time as the patrol and its live video feed helps the command center and officers understand what is actually happening before they arrive. This model enables better decisions about what resources are needed, the level of risk involved and the safest way to respond.

In Belgium, the use of nest drones has been developed as a nationwide public safety network. The goal of Citymesh's SENSE solution is to establish a network of drone nests that supports police and rescue services during emergencies. The drones are stationed at predetermined locations, connected to a communications network and can provide incident commanders with a real-time aerial overview during the first minutes of an emergency. According to information from Nokia and Citymesh, the SENSE solution includes 70 Drone-in-a-Box units across 35 emergency response regions. The drones are equipped with video and thermal cameras, are operated remotely and are intended to gather information during the critical first 15 minutes after an emergency call. The Belgian example is significant because it treats drones not as specialized equipment for a single agency, but as part of a broader emergency response support system.

In Switzerland, the collaboration between Swisscom Broadcast and Nokia is a notable example of efforts to develop a nationwide drone service network. According to Nokia, Swisscom Broadcast selected the company to build a nationwide Drones-as-a-Service network, with plans to deploy 300 Nokia Drone-in-a-Box units. The central idea behind this model is to provide drone capabilities as a service, allowing public safety agencies and operators of critical infrastructure to use automated drone solutions when needed for emergency response, facility protection or infrastructure inspections. Switzerland's experience also demonstrates that autonomous drones can support searches for missing or distressed individuals in difficult terrain where helicopters or ground teams may be too slow, limited in their reach or too risky to deploy.

In the United Kingdom, the use of drones as first responders is being developed as a natural extension of police air support. In one pilot project by Norfolk Constabulary, for example, a drone is housed in a weatherproof nest on the roof of a building, from which it can be remotely deployed when an emergency call is received. The drone streams live video to the command center, helping determine what additional resources are required. The U.K. example is also relevant for Estonia because drone deployment is being integrated with the broader development of command centers, aviation safety, training and future beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations.

These examples point to a common trend: drones are no longer merely tools that responders bring to an incident scene, but are increasingly becoming pre-positioned, rapidly deployable public safety assets integrated into command-and-control systems. For Estonia, this development is particularly significant. The country has limited human resources, a dispersed population, long land and maritime borders, islands, ports, critical infrastructure and an increasingly complex security environment. Any solution that provides a clearer picture of an incident more quickly increases the effectiveness of public services.

Who will shape Estonia's solutions?

When it comes to nest drones, Estonia should not be asking whether this technology is coming. The question is when it will arrive and how we should prepare for it. Nest drone technology is already in use in other sectors. In Estonia, for example, nest drones are used to conduct routine surveying of major construction sites, saving time and money while improving quality.

It is therefore clear that drones as first responders will eventually become a reality. The real question is whether we will develop our own solution — tailored to our legal framework, security needs, geography and the public interest — or end up adopting models developed elsewhere. Estonia needs a smart, secure and systematic approach. If developed properly, nest drones can help public services respond more quickly, operate with greater precision and better protect people.

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