Santa Ana adopts use of police drones despite surveillance concerns

After a heated debate, Santa Ana became the latest city in Orange County to approve the use of drones as first responders.

Santa Ana Police Chief Robert Rodriguez told the council the drones will help the department improve response times.

“It will reduce the air support costs associated with the Orange County Sheriff's Department helicopter contract. That contract currently right now sits about approximately half-a-million dollars a year,” he said. “It will provide responding officers with valuable information before they arrive on scene, which enhances community and officer safety.”

But some on the City Council and in the audience expressed concerns with the vendor, Axon Enterprise Inc., which contracts with the Department of Homeland Security. As Orange County’s only sanctuary city, Santa Ana has grappled with a deep mistrust in the police department as the federal government ramped up immigration raids and ICE detentions last summer. As immigrant families already contend with a fear of coming outside, the increased surveillance, they said, would make them even more afraid.

Ultimately, the council voted 4-3 to allow the city manager to enter into an agreement with Axon Enterprise for a three-year period, joining cities like Newport Beach, Irvine and Huntington Beach, which all have drone programs.

Details of the program

The drones will cost the city around $700,000, which will come from a state grant.

All data collected from the drones will be the property of the city and will only be released in accordance with state and city laws. The drones will also be the latest in surveillance technology purchased by the police department after it approved the purchase of 57 license plate readers last year.

How will the drones be deployed?

The three first-responder drones will be docked across the city at fire stations. When the police department receives an emergency call, the drones will be deployed within minutes, arriving before first responders. The live video stream, the police department says, will allow officers “to coordinate their actions more effectively and gather information in direct support of the department’s de-escalation strategy.”

In addition to the first-responder drones, the city will also purchase two patrol drones to use indoors and in tight spaces “to identify potential dangers.”

Last year, Santa Ana Police Commander Mat Sorenson said the department was looking to add drones to their repertoire 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.”

Community concerns

Carlos Perea, who sits on the Police Oversight Commission, and Tanya Navarro, organizing director with Chispa OC, both expressed concerns with the drone program.

“The vendor selected for this agreement, Axon Enterprise, profits from surveillance and policing infrastructure that is deeply entangled with systems of immigration enforcement and detention. Axon and its subsidiaries maintain contracts with ICE and other federal enforcement agencies at a time when immigrant communities across the country are experiencing unprecedented levels of surveillance, raids, and violence,” Perea wrote in an email to the City Council.

Navarro called the drone program “reckless” for public safety and fiscally.

The language in the policy, she said, “gives police broad latitude to decide when and where drones fly, including over protest, public gathering,and community events. This is exactly how tools get justified for emergencies and then become normalized in everyday surveillance.”