Who flies surveillance drones in Travis County?
- Active Sheriff's Office drones
- Agency
- Travis County Sheriff's Office
- Vendor
- DJI
- Devices
- —
| System | Agency | Vendor | Status | Devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheriff's Office drones | Travis County Sheriff's Office | DJI | Active | — |
What we do not know
Travis County Sheriff
- Where the drones actually flew, since the log gives the county as the location for every flight.
- Whether the task force the Court created in 2017 produced county policies, and whether the community feedback it authorized was ever collected.
- How the office decides when a drone goes up on a call, and what happens to footage of people who were not the subject of it.
- Whether the office intends to replace its DJI aircraft with the Skydio and Axon Air equipment in the 2027 budget request.
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 Travis County.
Go to the Travis 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 ↗