Shocking police video shows a drone removing a knife from a motionless suspect

The Electronic Frontier Foundation Atlas of Surveillance database listed the more than 1,800 police departments and sheriff’s offices that operate the aircraft in the United States. The non-profit organization also showed a significant rise in US law enforcement “Drone as a first responder” program. in 2025, and drone technology companies have agreed to sell law enforcement drones with surveillance capabilities.

Such companies that implement legal drone surveillance systems include Protection of the Sheep, Axon and Skydioand Brinc and Motorola Solutions. For example, Flock drones carry company license inspectors.

“Flying cameras are bad enough,” he wrote Beryl Liptonsenior researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, regarding drone-as-first-responder programs. “They can see and take pictures from a special place, take a video of your home, your home, and your movements that should require clear principles for storage, evaluation, and use, including when the cameras should not be recording.”

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office recorded 18 drones in its inventory 2025 annual reportincluding commercial multirotor drones made by Chinese drone manufacturers DJI and Autel, along with one fixed drone from the Ohio company Event 38 they can take off and land vertically.

In September 2025, Sacramento County commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of 27 additional drones for the sheriff’s office at an initial cost of $5,000 per drone, according to KCRA 3 TV station. The drone purchase came as part of a larger $1 million package for the sheriff’s office that also included a robot and a Bearcat armored vehicle, along with other military equipment.