Drone Cadre

The Tracy Police Department’s Drone Cadre, formally known as the Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Program, provides aerial support to help officers protect lives, locate people, assess incidents, and enhance situational awareness.

Trained and authorized UAS operators use drones as an additional resource when an aerial perspective can assist officers or incident commanders and when other resources are unavailable or less effective.

How Drones Support Our Community

The Drone Cadre may assist with a variety of calls and operations, including:

  • Missing person and search-and-rescue operations

  • Foot pursuits and searches for outstanding suspects

  • Crime scenes and criminal investigations

  • Accident investigations

  • Fires and disaster response

  • Perimeter searches and security

  • Crowd and event operations

  • Supporting incident commanders with aerial situational awareness

The team also supports Department training, community outreach, and other operations where aerial technology can provide valuable information.

Only trained and authorized Tracy Police Department personnel may operate Department UAS equipment. All operations are conducted in accordance with applicable Federal Aviation Administration regulations and Department policy. The Department maintains procedures for documenting missions, maintaining equipment, protecting evidence, and securely storing UAS data.

The Tracy Police Department recognizes the privacy considerations associated with UAS operations. Operators and observers take reasonable precautions to avoid intentionally recording or transmitting images of locations where individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy, except when authorized by a warrant or exigent circumstances.

Through technology, training, and responsible deployment, the Drone Cadre provides officers with another tool to respond to emergencies, locate people, investigate incidents, and better understand what is happening on the ground.

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