Santa Ana Police Department wants $250,000 for drones

The Santa Ana Police Department wants $250,000 to purchase drones.

Their request will come in front of city leaders on Tuesday because of a state law that requires law enforcement agencies to seek council approval to purchase military equipment — such as drones.

The ask is likely to get some pushback. Some residents say the money could be better spent on community programs.

Police  Commander Mat Sorenson said purchasing drones will help the police department “improve response times” and make “tactical decisions” on the ground.

 ”When we deployed drones here, we borrowed them from other agencies,” Sorenson said at a community meeting last week.

He said they're looking to add drones to their repertoire to use as a “reactionary tool” not for surveillance.

“ I'm not gonna make any promises here right now, but we are more than likely not going down the facial recognition route," he said. "For all intents and purposes, our drones will be a flying body, you know, use it deployed on actual calls for service where somebody's called the police. We're not randomly gonna be using it to surveil people or just fly around looking for crime.”

Sorenson said they're researching drone models and in the process of creating a drone-use policy with language borrowed from the American Civil Liberties Union to assure the public that the police department is “not using it inappropriately.”

How widespread is drone useage by law enforcement?

If successful, Santa Ana would join other cities throughout Southern California — including Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Beverly Hills and Burbank — in deploying drones as a way to amplify police coverage.

But the expansion of law enforcement drone programs have triggered concerns about privacy and accountability.

What's the backstory

Sorenson made his comments at a sparsely-attended community meeting last week where Santa Ana police presented a report on how military equipment weapons were used in the city in the last year.

But the meeting included an admission that the police department had “messed up.”

State law Assembly Bill 481, which was passed in 2022, requires law enforcement to make annual public reports describing how and why military equipment was deployed, including summaries of complaints, internal investigations and potential violations related to the equipment.

But the city never did that — until last week.

The 10 or so people who attended the meeting responded to the drone news by expressing concerns about the use of facial recognition technology, and how the data drones collect will be stored.

Why this matters

Such issues are especially sensitive in Santa Ana. The city is the only openly declared sanctuary city in Orange County, with a quarter of the city’s population being non-U.S. citizens. And many residents are fearing for their safety as immigration enforcement actions have ramped up in Southern California.

Many people fear that the Santa Ana Police Department is not doing enough to protect its residents from ICE activities and say law enforcement has been overly aggressive in its response to anti-ICE protests.

Santa Ana City Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez has said the city’s police forces shot him with rubber bullets eight times while he was out protesting.

"I still have the bruises on my back from the eight shots that my own officers fired at me,” he said during a council meeting back in June. “I still have the holes in my black shirt that my own officers from this city fired at me. I had no weapons on me.”

What do critics say?

Community members echoed some of these concerns when Sorenson spoke about the drone purchase. They asked the police department to divest from military grade weapons and instead use that funding for community programs.

How to watchdog your police department

One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention.

AB481 requires police departments, including those at transit agencies, school districts and university campuses, sheriff’s departments, district attorney’s offices and probation departments, to provide reports about the use of military equipment.

So how do you know if they're in compliance? It’s simple, enter the law enforcement agency's name and AB 481 in any search engine and a public page should pop up.

You can learn more about the use of equipment at community meetings law enforcement agencies are required to hold to provide transparency and discuss the policies that affect your community.

How to watchdog local government

Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.

• Read tips on how to get involved.
• The next scheduled board meeting is 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19. (The meeting starts with an hour-long closed session from 4 to 5:30 p.m.) You can check out the Santa Ana City Council full calendar and learn how to submit a public comment here.