Commission to Weigh Proposed Police Drone Policy Safeguards Including Facial Recognition Ban, Weapons Prohibition

A Pasadena police oversight committee is set to ask the full Community Police Oversight Commission on Thursday to consider a detailed set of community priorities for any future drone program operated by the Pasadena Police Department, including a prohibition on arming drones with weapons and a ban on equipping them with facial recognition or other biometric identification technology.

The recommendations, developed over six months by the commission’s Technology Policies and Processes Ad Hoc Committee, are intended to get ahead of any Pasadena Police Department drone acquisition by establishing community values and safeguards before the department writes its own policy. Because the CPOC is strictly an advisory body, any priorities it endorses would serve as recommendations; the Pasadena City Council would retain final authority over police department policy.

The memorandum accompanying the agenda item notes that the Pasadena Police Department has expressed interest in the potential future use of unmanned aircraft systems but has not yet acquired drones or adopted a use policy. The ad hoc committee — consisting of Vice Chair Selina Ho and Commissioners Phillip Argento, Lawrence Lurvey, Faisal Rashid and Paula Verrette — met monthly from October 2025 through March. In collaboration with Independent Police Auditor Teresa Magula, the committee reviewed drone policies from other jurisdictions, discussed relevant legal frameworks and considered how community concerns should be reflected in the Pasadena Police Department’s policies.

The proposed priorities are organized into six categories: safety, privacy and civil liberties, purpose, evaluation and accountability, data security, and transparency and community benefit. On safety, the committee recommends that drones be operated only under conditions that enhance rather than compromise public safety, that they not be equipped with weapons, that only trained personnel operate them, and that additional safety measures be considered at large gatherings.

Privacy protections would be extensive under the proposal. Beyond the facial recognition ban, the committee recommends data-minimization practices limiting retention of video collected during transit to or from deployment locations, operational practices to minimize incidental capture of bystanders and private areas, a prohibition on using drones to monitor constitutionally protected speech or assembly except where narrowly tailored, and heightened scrutiny for deployments near sensitive locations such as schools and hospitals. The committee also recommends that procurement decisions consider vendor origin and domestic manufacturing practices as part of broader data-security and public-trust evaluations.

On purpose and deployment, the committee recommends that each drone flight have a clearly stated purpose tied to a specific call for service or first-responder need, and that generalized surveillance, routine patrol or roving monitoring be prohibited. Clear authorization and approval requirements would be defined for both routine and exigent circumstances, and the committee calls for defined rules governing mutual-aid deployments for external agencies.

Accountability measures would include periodic review processes, compliance with California Assembly Bill 481 reporting requirements, a public-facing website with deployment activity and policy updates, and designation of a sworn officer with primary responsibility for drone program oversight. On data security, the committee recommends limiting access to drone-generated data to authorized personnel, restricting data sharing with federal authorities, and establishing clear limitations and approval requirements for any sharing of drone-collected information.

The Community Police Oversight Commission is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 9, in Council Chambers, Pasadena City Hall, 100 North Garfield Ave., Room S249, in Pasadena. For more information call (626) 744-7311 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/agendas/.