Marin County Sheriff | Drones
The Sheriff's Office policy manual carries a small unmanned aerial system policy. Flights are requested through the Communications Center and approved by the on-duty Watch Commander, and the equipment may not be used to conduct random surveillance. The size of the fleet and the number of flights are not in any record we fetched.
At a glance
- Governing policy
- Policy 606, Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Operations, in the manual stamped 2025-09-18 [1]
- Who approves a flight
- Requests go through the Communications Center; approval "will be made through the on-duty Watch Commander" (Policy 606.5) [1]
- Prohibited use
- The equipment "shall not be used ... To conduct random surveillance activities" (Policy 606.6) [1]
- Thermal and other vision enhancement
- Permitted "in viewing areas only where there is no protectable privacy interest or when in compliance with a search warrant or court order" [1]
- Where footage goes
- Uploaded to Evidence.com and retained under the Portable Audio Video/Video Recorders Policy [1]
- Aircraft in the fleet
- the office's military equipment inventory and its drone statistics both returned HTTP 404 to our fetcher, and no count appears in any record we fetched
- Cost, and the record of the approval
- not in any record we fetched; the office's manual also carries Policy 706, Military Equipment, which sets the route for governing-body approval of equipment covered by that policy, and this pass did not read it in detail [1]
- Flights per year
- the office's drone statistics document returned HTTP 404 to our fetcher
How it happened
- Context
Policy 606 in the current policy manual
The manual stamped September 18, 2025 routes deployment requests through the Communications Center for approval by the on-duty Watch Commander, prohibits use of the equipment "To conduct random surveillance activities," conditions thermal and other vision enhancement on the absence of a protectable privacy interest or on a warrant or court order, and sends recorded data to Evidence.com under the Portable Audio Video/Video Recorders Policy. [1]
What the policy says
The office’s policy manual carries a Lexipol stamp of September 18, 2025 and includes Policy 606, Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Operations. A small unmanned aerial system is an aircraft flown without a pilot on board, which the policy abbreviates as sUAS. Policy 606.5 states that “Requests for deployment of the sUAS will be made through the MCSO the Communications Center” and that “Approval for the use of the sUAS will be made through the on-duty Watch Commander.”[1]
Policy 606.6 lists prohibited uses. Among them, the equipment “shall not be used … To conduct random surveillance activities.” The policy permits “Use of vision enhancement technology (e.g., thermal and other imaging equipment not generally available to the public) … in viewing areas only where there is no protectable privacy interest or when in compliance with a search warrant or court order.” Recorded data “shall be uploaded to Evidence.com and retained in accordance with the guidelines of the Portable Audio Video/Video Recorders Policy.”[1]
What it does not establish
The office’s military equipment inventory and its drone statistics, the two documents that would carry the aircraft list and the flight counts, both returned HTTP 404 to our fetcher on this pass. No fleet size, cost figure or flight count appears in any record we fetched. The manual also contains a Portable Audio/Video Recorders policy and Policy 706, Military Equipment, which sets the route for governing-body approval of the equipment it covers. This pass did not read either policy in detail, so we do not say here which body approved the drones or when. A records request for the fleet, its cost, the approval record and the annual deployment counts is drafted.
Questions
- How many drones does the Marin County Sheriff's Office have?
- Not stated in any record we fetched. The office's military equipment inventory and its drone statistics both returned HTTP 404 on this pass, so we publish no count.
- Who authorizes a flight?
- Policy 606.5 states that "Requests for deployment of the sUAS will be made through the MCSO the Communications Center" and that "Approval for the use of the sUAS will be made through the on-duty Watch Commander." [1]
- Can the drones be used for general surveillance?
- Policy 606.6 lists prohibited uses, among them that the equipment "shall not be used ... To conduct random surveillance activities." Thermal and other imaging not generally available to the public is permitted "in viewing areas only where there is no protectable privacy interest or when in compliance with a search warrant or court order." [1]
- What happens to the video?
- The policy states that the data "shall be uploaded to Evidence.com and retained in accordance with the guidelines of the Portable Audio Video/Video Recorders Policy." [1]
What we do not know
- The aircraft in the fleet, their models and their cost.
- The approval record for the program under Policy 706, Military Equipment, which this pass did not read in detail.
- Deployments per year and what they were used for.
- The office's military equipment inventory and its drone statistics, both of which returned HTTP 404 on this pass.
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 Marin County.
What we have documented in Marin County →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 →Sources
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