Solano County Sheriff | Drones
The Sheriff's published military equipment appendices list five aircraft across three models and a tracked robot, with what each cost and which fund paid. The inventory covers one twelve-month period and the cost table covers a different one.
At a glance
- Avatar Tactical Robot (Robotex)
- 1 unit, $30,000, General Fund. A tracked ground robot, listed separately from the aircraft [1] [2]
- Inventory period
- 10/31/2024 to 10/31/2025 [1]
- Cost table period
- 10/31/2025 to 10/31/2026, which is not the same period the inventory covers [2]
- Flight numbers or purposes
- not in the appendices; the published material is an inventory and a cost table
- The drone policy itself
- we did not retrieve a drone use policy on this pass and did not sweep for one
How it happened
- Context
Military equipment policy posted
The county publishes the Sheriff's military equipment policy on a page that introduces it by saying a full inventory is available below. [3]
- Context
2025 inventory and cost appendices published
Appendix A lists the office's military equipment for the period ending October 31, 2025, including three drone models and a tracked robot. Appendix B gives acquisition costs, funding source and projected annual costs. [1] [2]
What the record establishes
California requires law-enforcement agencies to adopt a military equipment policy and publish an inventory, and the statutory definition of military equipment includes unmanned aerial vehicles. Solano County publishes both. The Sheriff’s page introduces the material by saying that “in the interest of transparency, a full list of the Sheriff’s Office inventory relative to AB 481 is available below”.[3]
Appendix A, headed “Department Inventory of Military Equipment – Period: 10/31/2024-10/31/2025”, lists under small unmanned aircraft systems two DJI M30T, two DJI Mavic Mini 3 and one DJI Avata 2, and under small unmanned tracked robots one Avatar Tactical Robot made by Robotex.[1]
Appendix B gives the money. The M30T is listed at $9,637 from the General Fund, the Mavic Mini 3 at $299, the Avata 2 at $1,200, and the tracked robot at $30,000, each from the General Fund.[2]
Appendix A also states its own limits, saying that consumable items fluctuate and that “this appendix reflects approximations of certain consumable items of military equipment at the time of this procedure’s publication”.[1] That caveat is about consumables such as ammunition rather than about the aircraft counts.
Two different reporting periods
The two appendices cover different twelve months. Appendix A is headed for the period ending October 31, 2025, and Appendix B is headed “FISCAL IMPACT – Period: 10/31/2025-10/31/2026”.[1][2] Anyone citing both should say which period each figure comes from rather than treating them as one reporting year.
What it does not establish
The appendices are an inventory and a cost table. They say nothing about how often the aircraft fly, where, at whose direction, or under what rules. We did not retrieve the office’s drone use policy on this pass and did not sweep for one, so this page makes no claim about what that policy says or whether it exists.
Where to ask
State law pairs the published inventory with an annual report and a community engagement meeting at which the agency answers public questions about funding, acquisition and use. Asking when that meeting is, and putting the flight-count question there, uses the mechanism the statute already built. A records request for the drone use policy and for flight logs by count and purpose would answer the rest. The Solano County Board of Supervisors takes public comment.
Questions
- How many drones does the Sheriff's Office have?
- The published inventory lists three models: two DJI M30T, two DJI Mavic Mini 3 and one DJI Avata 2. We list the rows as the appendix lists them rather than giving a single total, because the total is not what the document states. [1]
- What did they cost, and who paid?
- Appendix B gives an initial cost and a funding source for each: $9,637 for the M30T, $299 for the Mavic Mini 3 and $1,200 for the Avata 2, each from the General Fund. The tracked robot is listed at $30,000, also General Fund. [2]
What we do not know
- The office's drone use policy, which we did not retrieve on this pass.
- How many flights have been made and for what purposes.
- Why the inventory appendix and the fiscal appendix cover different twelve-month periods.
- Whether the annual community engagement meeting state law requires has been held, and when.
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 Solano County.
What we have documented in Solano 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
- 1.
- 2. Solano County Sheriff's Office, Appendix B, AB 481 (2025), Fiscal Impact, period 10/31/2025-10/31/2026 · Primary document · accessed · archived copy · our copy (114 KB)
- 3. Solano County Sheriff's Office, CA Assembly Bill 481 Military Equipment Policy · Primary document · accessed · archived copy · our copy (13 KB)
Get the digest
A regular digest of what changed in the world of surveillance: the counties we published, the devices that appeared on the map, and the public meetings where these decisions get made. We send it when there is enough to report.
One click to unsubscribe. What we do with your address is on the newsletter page.