Policy Analysis of Police Drone Use

SamuelsonClinicCivilLiberties
On behalf of the City of Oakland’s Office of the Inspector General, Samuelson Clinic students conducted research and provided suggestions for a review and assessment report of the Oakland Police Department’s drone policies.

Based on community concerns regarding data privacy, the Oakland Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) undertook a review of the policy guiding the Oakland Police Department’s (“OPD”) use of unmanned aerial systems (“UAS”), with a goal to balance public safety, constitutional privacy protections, and OPD’s stated values of accountability and transparency. Clinic students conducted an in-depth comparison of OPD’s UAS policy and policies in eight cities within and outside California, made suggestions for changes to Oakland’s policy, and researched additional drone-related questions raised by OIG. Based on this research, OIG’s final recommendations included establishing retention policies for drone data and metadata, access rights to drone footage for criminal defendants and civil litigants, auditing protocols for police access and use of drone data, and procedures for notifying the public of past drone deployments. In OPD’s response to the policy review, the department agreed with the recommendations and stated that it will update the UAS policy.