Public outcry over surveillance leads to a no on drones in Carmel.

Governments buy a lot of things, and the contracts are often boilerplate language that generates little public discussion. Sometimes contracts reflect a much bigger story. When police and fire officials presented on Monday, Oct. 5 to ask Carmel City Council to give the nod to acquire a single drone, it might have been a question of which contract to pursue (a one-time acquisition versus a multi-year subscription), but the discussion was about something else – surveillance, technology and trust.

The pitch was for a single piece of equipment that could cost as little as $10,685.99. But instead of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, members of the public spoke up to ask questions and oppose the technology. Many urged council to use the money to instead hire more police, focusing on humans instead of tech tools for policing.

“This isn’t about whether we trust our current police chief. We do,” said Christine Hollenbeck. “It is about creating a surveillance capability that can remain long after our chief and council are gone and could be expanded in ways beyond what any of us can imagine today.”

The public spoke, and the council listened, directing the Police Department to scrap the potential drone acquisition and policy for now.

“This is what government is supposed to look like,” Mayor Dale Byrne said. “We listened to everyone in the room… For now, drones are off the table.”

This kind of public organization and participation is emerging largely in response to the widespread use (and misuse) of automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, from the company Flock Safety. As Carmel resident Ian Martin observed, “This is an unfortunate time to even be having this conversation because Flock really has poisoned this discussion.”

A newly formed local chapter of Get The Flock Out and the Monterey County Coalition Against Mass Surveillance successfully pressed the Monterey County Board of Supervisors to eliminate its relationship with Flock, despite a request from Sheriff Tina Nieto to continue using the tool – the supervisors voted 3-2 in September to cancel the sheriff’s Flock contract.

Chapter leader Colleen Ingram spoke up to the Carmel City Council, and again on Tuesday, Oct. 13 to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors about drones. The supervisors were discussing a request from the sheriff to authorize a $3 million acquisition to expand from three drones up to 18 in 2031.

Much of the discussion focused on budget. “I am more comfortable with a shorter-term contract so it doesn’t lock in the county’s obligation,” Supervisor Luis Alejo said, pushing for no more than eight drones over five years. “There might be better providers down the road that might give us a better price. This doesn’t help address keeping costs down.”

“For now, drones are off the table.”

Supervisor Wendy Root Askew calculated that the amount requested would be enough to insure 5,000 patients on the county’s Esperanza Care health plan.

The County Sheriff’s jurisdiction is wholly different than the 1-square-mile city of Carmel. The agency serves a vast region, and includes the search and rescue team. There’s a much more compelling argument logistically for the need, and the agency also was not starting from scratch – they have used drones for a decade and already have an adopted policy, which includes a prohibition on “random surveillance activities.” Supervisors’ privacy concerns were assuaged because the County holds the data – not a third-party company – and it is only shared with the District Attorney as evidence.

Not all technology is the same, and all technology is potentially subject to abuse. Carmel City Councilmember Alissandra Dramov read aloud from an April article in Police Chief Magazine. “Technology procurement should be treated as problem-solving, not shopping. The unit of analysis is the problem the agency is trying to solve, not the attractiveness of a vendor’s tool,” it states.

Shiny objects promising technological solutions are everywhere. Law enforcement agencies have a responsibility to not just pursue shiny new objects, and not just to control costs – but to make our communities safer. As Root Askew said, “If we don’t have trust in law enforcement we don’t have public safety.”

That’s true no matter what tools they have.

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com.