Who flies surveillance drones in El Dorado County?
What we do not know
El Dorado County Sheriff
- Deployments by type in the 2025 and 2026 reports, and any complaints.
- The current drone policy text and retention rules for imagery.
South Lake Tahoe Police
- The 2026 report when published, and the imagery retention rule in Policy 705.
What drones are
An unmanned aircraft carrying a camera, flown by a public agency. Where a state classes drones as military equipment, as California does, a public policy and a governing-body vote are required before an agency uses one.
How they work, why agencies buy them, and every county we have documented →
What you can do
Civic action
Show up
This technology is bought and renewed by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have not yet confirmed where each of them meets in El Dorado County.
Go to the El Dorado County hub →Personal protection
Protect yourself
Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.
Surveillance Self-Defense ↗