Butte County Sheriff | Drones
The Sheriff's military equipment policy inventories two BRINC Lemur S drones, three Autel EVO II bundles listed with a DJI Mavic 3, and a donated DJI Mavic II Pro. The policy describes the Lemur S as able to enter structures and locate people inside.
How it happened
- Context
Inventory in the revised policy
The AB 481 policy lists the drones by model, quantity and unit cost, alongside a Remotec Andros robot, two Packbots, a long range acoustic device, and a Lenco Bearcat annotated as Chico Police owned. [1]
What the inventory lists
The Sheriff’s military equipment policy, revised February 17, 2026, carries an inventory by equipment type. Under unmanned aerial systems it lists two BRINC Lemur S drones at $11,500 each, three Autel Robotics EVO II drone bundles at $12,000 each, and one donated DJI Mavic II Pro, each with a three to five year lifespan.[1]
The policy describes the Lemur S as a drone that “can enter structures, and effectively locate people inside homes, buildings, and vehicles,” with cameras, night vision and infrared illuminators, and notes the bundle was funded through donations.[1]
What else is in the same document
The inventory also lists a Remotec Andros F6A robot purchased in 2006 at $250,000, two iRobot Packbots obtained at no cost, an LRAD 100x acoustic device at $16,338, and a Lenco Bearcat G2 at $216,801 that the policy says “is stored and maintained by the Chico Police Department and made available for BCSO use on an as-needed basis.”[1] The document contains no license plate reader; the office’s readers are documented on their own page.
Questions
- What drones does the Sheriff's Office have?
- The 2026 policy inventory lists two BRINC Lemur S drones, three Autel Robotics EVO II bundles (listed with a DJI Mavic 3), and one donated DJI Mavic II Pro. The table gives no aircraft total, and a bundle row may hold more than one aircraft. [1]
- What can the Lemur S do?
- The policy says it "can enter structures, and effectively locate people inside homes, buildings, and vehicles," and that the bundle was funded through donations. [1]
- Does the inventory include license plate readers?
- No. The policy's definition of military equipment lists drones, robots, armored vehicles and similar items and does not list license plate readers, which the office documents separately. [1]
What we do not know
- Flight logs, deployments by type, and the annual report figures for 2025 and 2026.
- Whether the Board approved the donated and donation-funded aircraft as the policy requires.
What you can do
Show up
Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have not yet confirmed where each of them meets in Butte County.
What we have documented in Butte County →Protect yourself
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Surveillance Self-Defense →Sources
- 1. Butte County Sheriff's Office, Military Equipment Use Policy (Rev. 02/17/26) · Primary document · · accessed · archived copy
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