Who flies surveillance drones in Merced County?
What we do not know
Los Banos Police
- Which aircraft remain operational after the 2023-24 reporting period?
- What mission categories account for the reported uses?
- What retention, access, sharing, and deletion rules apply to imagery and telemetry?
- Where are the later annual reports and hearing records?
Merced Police
- Which listed aircraft are currently operational and assigned?
- What do current annual reports say about uses, complaints, policy violations, and costs?
- What retention and sharing rules apply to imagery, telemetry, and exported evidence?
- Which agencies receive drone assistance or data?
Merced County Sheriff
- What mission categories account for the 725 uses?
- Which aircraft remain operational and how many flight hours did each record?
- What retention schedule applies to each category of imagery and telemetry?
- Which other agencies requested or received drone assistance or data?
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 Merced County.
Go to the Merced 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 ↗