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Two California cities moved to put police drones in the air the same week, and both ran straight into residents who don’t want them there. West Hollywood launches a sheriff-run drone program by the end of July.
Berkeley opens bidding on a public safety package that bundles drones with license plate readers and cameras. DroneXL has tracked the drone-as-first-responder wave since Chula Vista crossed 25,000 missions in May, and this is the moment the pushback caught up to it.
West Hollywood puts sheriff drones over the city in July
West Hollywood will launch a one-year, $750,000 pilot by the end of July that sends Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department drones to certain calls before deputies arrive, making it the only city so far to contract with the department for drone-as-first-responder service.
The program has been slow to get here. The council first explored it in February 2023, approved it in July 2024, then paused it in June 2025 over policy conflicts. It took a Sheriff’s Department policy update in April 2026, written specifically to carve out West Hollywood, to clear the runway…