NRS 493

Nevada wrote its drone rules in 2015 and amended them in 2023.^[1] The chapter separates two kinds of government operator and treats them differently, which is the first thing to know when reading any Nevada agency’s drone program.

A law enforcement agency may fly for any lawful purpose, with one carve-out that does the work. It may not operate a drone “for the purpose of gathering evidence or other information within the curtilage of a residence or at any other location or upon any property in this State at which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy” without first obtaining a warrant.^[1] A warrant must specify the period and “must not authorize the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle for a period of more than 10 days,” renewable on a fresh showing of probable cause.^[1]

Five exceptions let an agency fly without one: probable cause plus exigent circumstances; written consent that specifies what will be gathered and when, where and how; search and rescue; an imminent threat to life or safety, including terrorism; and a declared state of emergency, limited to the geographic area named in the declaration.^[1] The imminent-threat route carries a filing duty: the agency “shall document the factual basis” and, “not later than 2 business days after initiating operation, file a sworn statement with a court of competent jurisdiction describing the nature of the imminent threat.”^[1] Those sworn statements are a court record, and they are the shortest route to learning whether a Nevada agency has flown without a warrant.

Everything gathered in violation is excluded twice over: it “is not admissible in and must not be disclosed in” any proceeding, and it “may not be used to establish reasonable suspicion or probable cause.”^[1] The exclusion reaches laundering, too. It applies to information an agency obtains from anyone else, including another public agency or a federal department, where that party acquired it inconsistently with the section.^[1]

A public agency that is not a law enforcement agency operates under a stricter rule in one respect. It may fly only if it has registered the aircraft with the Department of Public Safety beforehand, and it “must not operate an unmanned aerial vehicle for the purposes of assisting a law enforcement agency with law enforcement or conducting a criminal prosecution.”^[1] A fire district’s drone is not a way around the warrant rule.

The registry is the lever

NRS 493.118 requires the Department of Public Safety to “establish and maintain a registry of unmanned aerial vehicles that are operated by public agencies in this State,” and to “include on its Internet website the information that is maintained in the registry.”^[1] For each aircraft, the agency submits its own name, “the name and contact information of each operator,” enough information to identify the aircraft, and “a statement describing the use of the unmanned aerial vehicle by the public agency.”^[1]

On or before 1 February each year the Department must report to the Legislature “outlining the activities of public agencies with respect to the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles in this State.”^[1]

A published statewide registry and an annual report to the Legislature are the two documents that answer, in one place, which Nevada agencies fly drones and what they say they use them for. Where a county page here records a drone we could not otherwise trace, that registry is the first place to look and the shortest request to write.

The 2023 amendment added a procurement bar. The Department must publish a list of countries, businesses and entities from which no public or law enforcement agency may buy drones or related equipment and services, and that list must include entities identified by the Secretary of Defense under section 1260H of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.^[1] Equipment bought before those regulations took effect may still be used.^[1]