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ORWELL INDEX

Who flies surveillance drones in San Bernardino County?

What we do not know

San Bernardino Sheriff

  • Whether the Drone as First Responder programme is operating, and if so what aircraft fly for it. The policy describes it; the statutory inventory through December 2025 does not contain a fleet that would support it.
  • How long drone footage is kept. The policy defers to a retention schedule it does not reproduce.
  • How many times the seven aircraft flew in 2025, and for what. The report lists them and does not count deployments.

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 San Bernardino County.

Go to the San Bernardino 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 ↗