Who flies surveillance drones in San Joaquin County?
- Active Drones
- Agency
- San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office
- Vendor
- —
- Devices
- —
| System | Agency | Vendor | Status | Devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drones | San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office | — | Active | — |
Also listed here because the record shows it
These systems are documented primarily as something else. They appear here because a cited record shows the deployment also does this.
- Expanding License plate readers [Stockton Police]
Stocktonia reports that "The amendment added Flock's Drone as First Responder platform to Stockton's existing camera system and extended the agreement through April 2031, bringing the contract's total potential value to more than $5.4 million over five years," describing "six docked drones that could respond to calls in 30 seconds to four minutes, send live video before officers arrive and help stretch police staffing."
What we do not know
San Joaquin County Sheriff
- How many flights the office has run, by purpose, and whether flight logs are kept.
- What section 463 of the office's policy manual says, given that the manual is published only as scanned pages.
- How long video and images brought back by a flight are kept.
- What the two training-only aircraft are used for once training ends.
- Whether the drones and the drop mechanism listed under "Intended Equipment Acquisition 2025" were bought, and what the "Base DFR Program" line covers.
License plate readers [Stockton Police]
- The Flock Safety contract itself and all three amendments, as city records rather than as reporting about them.
- The November 2024 council resolution accepting $963,000 in federal funds, and what the money bought.
- The policy governing the drone response system, including what the drones may record and how long it is kept.
- The number of drone flights and license plate reader searches, by count and category. We ask for counts, never footage.
- The city's own current inventory of readers and where they are mounted.
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 Joaquin County.
Go to the San Joaquin 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 ↗