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ORWELL INDEX

Who flies surveillance drones in Santa Cruz County?

What we do not know

Santa Cruz County Sheriff

  • How long imagery from the aircraft is kept, which Policy 606 leaves to the records retention schedule.
  • Whether the three decommissioned aircraft were donated, and to whom.

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 Santa Cruz County.

Go to the Santa Cruz 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 ↗