By Phil Diehl
The San Diego Union-Tribune
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — An airborne drone will carry the first eyes responding to 911 emergency calls under a 13-month pilot program approved Wednesday for the Oceanside Police Department.
The single drone would be positioned atop City Hall and could fly to all areas west of Interstate 5 from the harbor to the Carlsbad border, said police Lt. Michael Provence . If successful, police hope to use the system throughout the city.
“When a high priority call comes in, we can launch the drone within seconds,” Provence said.
The Oceanside City Council voted unanimously to purchase the drone, staff a “visual observer” position, and create a “real-time crime center” in a room at police headquarters to monitor all incoming information from the drone and various other sources about unfolding emergencies.
Results in other cities show more than 20 percent of 911 calls can be resolved by the drone without sending an officer to the scene, Provence said. Also, the additional information obtained helps to solve more crimes.
Oceanside police have been using drones since 2016. However, the system in place requires an officer to drive to a scene with the drone and then launch it, which adds considerable time to the response.
Some people raised concerns about privacy, an issue previously raised with drones as well as other high-tech surveillance equipment such as body-worn cameras, stationary cameras and mobile license-plate readers.
Councilmember Jimmy Figueroa said he had concerns about how the drone might be used over low-income, minority communities such as Eastside and Crown Heights.
Police Chief Taurino Valdovinos said the city has a written policy for the use, storage and accessibility of surveillance data.
Councilmember Eric Joyce said he’d like to get a better explanation of the policy for the public, particularly how long the data is kept before it is destroyed or deleted.
“There is always a tradeoff in privacy,” Joyce said. “That’s something to be wary of, even though this seems to be a legitimate use.”
Mayor Esther Sanchez called it a good program and said even the public awareness of the system could help deter crime.
“People want cases to be solved,” Sanchez said. “Response times, all of those things matter.”
Oceanside received a $264,816 grant from the state’s 2024 Citizens Options for Public Safety (COPS) program to pay for the project.
The city staff also is recommending an increase of $406,247 to the police general fund budget for fiscal year 2025-26 to support overtime costs associated with operating the first-responder drone and the real-time crime center.
Looking to navigate the complexities of grants funding? Lexipol is your go-to resource for state-specific, fully-developed grants services that can help fund your needs. Find out more about our grants services here.
—
©2025 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.