The Alameda County Sheriff's Office could become the first law enforcement agency in California to use a drone. The department has already tested a surveillance drone, Public Information Officer Sergeant J.D. Nelson says, and is seeking a grant to buy one.
 
Unlike the drones the U.S. deploys overseas, Nelson says the sheriff's office drone would have a camera on it, not weapons. It could be used for search and rescue, to hunt for a bomb or track a person with a weapon, or in any situation where it's safer to be in the air than on the ground.

 

"I look at that police officer in Vallejo that was murdered when he was jumping over a fence chasing somebody," Nelson said, referring to the death last year of Officer James Capoot, following a bank robbery. "That would have been a perfect example to send that thing up to look for the person and find them that way, and that officer would be alive today."

 

Attorney Linda Lye with the ACLU of Northern California says she's concerned drones would make it easy to do mass surveillance on citizens.

 

"We're concerned about the comprehensive stockpiling of detailed information about where people go, when they do it, who they meet with," Lye said. She said the decision to buy a drone should have a public debate, and a vote by elected officials.