The Spokane City Council approved the purchase Monday night with a 6-1 vote. Councilwoman Sarah Dixit was the sole vote against, saying she was uncomfortable with drone use to surveil protests. She also expressed discomfort with the quick introduction and passage of the contracts, which she argued was reminiscent of the controversial approval of a federal hiring grant earlier this year.
City Administrator Alex Scott argued earlier in the day that a rapid turnaround was necessary to secure grant funding for the purchases.
The police department will eat the cost of both purchases for the moment — $127,000 for the drones and just shy of $100,000 for the barriers — but expects to be reimbursed from the various FIFA and World Cup-related grants Spokane will receive.
The drones will be used to provide "continual drone overwatch of training sites, potential lodging, and transportation routes" for Team Egypt while they are stationed in the Spokane area.
Purchase of the Skydio drones, produced by body-worn camera company Axon, also meets another need for the Spokane Police Department: replacing its entirely Chinese-made fleet. SPD's fleet is largely made up of two types of quadcopter drones manufactured by the Chinese Da-Jiang Innovations, the world's leading manufacturer of drones. Another fixed wing drone, the advanced surveillance-capable Autel Dragonfish that the department purchased in 2024 for $164,000, is also Chinese-made.
New federal regulations took effect at the start of the year that effectively banned the purchase of new foreign-made drones, particularly those made in China, so the Spokane Police Department eventually would have had to purchase American-made models anyway. Buying them now to protect Team Egypt means the city ultimately doesn't have to foot that bill, at least for these four units.
At roughly $20,000 a piece, with thousands of dollars of add-ons for each, Axon advertises the Skydio drone's optics and onboard AI-powered flight-assist as the most powerful available for a model of its size. Spokane Police Department Lieutenant Kay Kernkamp, commander of the department's drone unit, noted these are relatively comparable prices for the Chinese drones that currently make up their fleet.
Presenting to the Spokane City Council on Monday, Assistant Police Chief Matt Cowles said the drones are powerful tools for situational awareness, but claimed the devices' AI is primarily used for automatic obstacle avoidance and object tracking, lacking facial recognition or automatic license plate tracking.
"It is mediocre technology at best," Cowles said of the model's object tracking capabilities, attempting to assuage concerns from the council about AI-powered surveillance.
Axon's marketing materials certainly don't paint the Skydio's tracking technology as "mediocre." The Skydio X10 comes with onboard thermal imaging, cameras able to "read a license plate from over 800 feet and identify cars from over three miles away," and the "Shadow" tracking system capable of automatically following people and vehicles day or night, even if the view is temporarily obstructed.
The drones have an operating range of 7.5 miles in normal conditions and an unlimited range in areas with 5G cell service. Multiple dedicated navigation cameras can also construct 3D renders of environments, and Axon describes the X10 and the smaller R10 as the "only drones that fly fully autonomously at night."
The company heavily advertises the military surveillance uses of the Skydio, noting it uses a multiband radio connection "for operations in contested environments," helping thwart jamming attempts.
The department has also purchased a number of modular add-ons that can be attached to the drones, including spotlights, speakers and a delivery attachment Axon calls a "dropper." The droppers could be used to deliver Narcan, first aid supplies or to drop a flotation device to someone struggling in the Spokane River, Kernkamp said.
Once Team Egypt has left, Cowles said the police department can continue to use the drones to respond to crime in situations where it would be dangerous to send in a human, or to surveil large events. While SPD policy limits surveillance for protests, the list of exemptions allows the use of drones if a protest is large, traveling through a road or if there is any indication of a threat.
Like body-worn camera footage, drone footage acquired by SPD is a public record that can be requested.
The suite of barriers and a trailer to haul them in, which SPD is purchasing from California-based Meridian Rapid Defense Group, will be used to set up a perimeter around the Gonzaga University site where Team Egypt will practice. Unlike concrete barriers, the largely plastic and chain link barriers are reportedly able to stop vehicles that crash into them at high speeds.
The police department argues the barriers are needed to protect against vehicle-based attacks and can continue to be used to protect large public events after the World Cup.
© 2026 The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
