At meetings over the next few weeks, Pasadena PD will present the annual Military Equipment report, which includes PPD’s intent to purchase a new robot as well as replace and expand their drones.

Pasadena PD currently has drones for use by SWAT for indoor use only, and they want to expand to a full Drone As First Responder (DFR) program, which means flying drones across the city for anything related to “public safety”. This is an extreme expansion of the use of drones and surveillance in Pasadena and it is being done without transparency or community consent. No one from the community has advocated in favor of this massive surveillance overreach!

The Drone vendors probably being considered are Skydio, BRINC, and Flock! Yes, Flock drones will have ALPR capabilities, and all these drones can have additional cameras such as thermal cameras. There aren’t appropriate guardrails to protect our privacy or guarantees against abuse. The limited studies on Drones as First Responder programs show no positive significant impact on actual public safety.

Tell the Community Police Oversight Commission, the Pasadena Police Department, and the Public Safety Committee that we don’t want additional eyes in the sky capturing images of people and property! Stop surveilling everyone in Pasadena!