Oakland police want to put six drones on rooftops at three locations around the city, launching them straight into 911 calls before patrol officers ever leave the curb. The department says the drones would be the first to arrive at many emergencies, feeding live video back to officers while they’re still en route. The Police Commission has already signed off, but the plan still needs a vote from the Oakland City Council before it can take flight.
Under the proposal, two drones would be stationed at each of three sites, providing coverage across all six of OPD’s patrol areas, according to The Oaklandside. The pairing matters logistically as much as geographically: with two drones per site, one can swap in when the other’s battery runs low, keeping coverage continuous. The Police Commission unanimously approved OPD’s request and the accompanying program policies last month, and the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission also signed off unanimously, though the measure cannot move forward without City Council approval.
The Price Tag and the Funding Fight
The Oaklandside reports the first-responder drone program would cost approximately $2.6 million over five years, with OPD planning to draw on Measure NN public safety parcel and parking tax funds. Separately, the department wants to purchase seven new field-based drones for around half a million dollars, this time using existing asset forfeiture funds rather than the parcel tax. OPD’s ask has shifted elsewhere too — the department initially sought up to 30 smaller indoor drones, which officers would have donated at a cost of $1,000 to $1,200 each, before scaling that request down to 19.
Acting Captain Omar Daza-Quiroz, who oversees OPD’s drone program, told commissioners he spent several years researching drone-as-first-responder efforts in other cities before bringing the proposal forward, citing programs in Chula Vista and Redondo Beach as models. The department currently has 19 certified drone operators on staff. Daza-Quiroz also said there haven’t been any known violations of the department’s existing drone-use policies, though he acknowledged that no direct correlation has been established between drone deployments and any reduction in police canine deployments.
An October Standoff That Made the Case
OPD points to an October 20th incident as evidence of the strain its current staffing puts on response times. Officers responded to reports of a person sleeping in a car with a rifle near 17th Avenue and East 15th Street in East Oakland’s San Antonio neighborhood, a call that ultimately drew about 20 responding officers. At the time, OPD had 138 pending calls stacked up across the city, and per Daza-Quiroz, it took officers two hours to detain the person and recover the firearm. The department says it has roughly 600 officers on the books, but only about 530 are available for duty once absences are factored in…