The public has a right to see at least some of the video footage from Chula Vista Police Department drones, according to a landmark state appeals court ruling out this week.
Chula Vista police launched their drone program in 2018. Soon after, they made national history when the FAA gave them authorization to launch from anywhere in the city.
The CVPD website says so far, drones have responded to more than 18,000 calls and helped with more than 2,400 arrests. The department says the drones often arrive faster than a patrol unit, and can help de-escalate a situation and result in safer responses for both subjects and officers.
“The issue is that they didn’t have any use policies or privacy policies in place,” said Art Castanares. “And they record every one of these videos.”
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Castanares publishes the San Diego Spanish language newspaper, La Prensa. Three years ago, he asked Chula Vista for a month of drone video excluding any footage tied to a police investigation. Chula Vista denied the entire request. So, he sued.
“They admit they have over 8,000 videos now and they refuse to release any of them to the public,” said Castanares.
Chula Vista argued every second of drone video was inherently an investigatory record – which are exempt from public records laws. But just this week, a state appeals court sided with the public.
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In its decision, the court said a lot of drone video might very well be exempt, but the city can’t seal every second of it as a blanket policy; at least some video must be public record.
“I think it’s a huge victory,” said Castanares. A victory, he says, for both government transparency and individual privacy.
In part, because he says police drones can infringe on our privacy in a way no one could have ever imagined.
“Unlike body cam videos that an officer wears, or streetlight cameras,” says Castanares. “These drone videos, these cameras can see into our backyards, they can literally see into our windows if they hover around our houses.”
It’s a point not lost on immigration activist Pedro Rios.
“I think this is an important ruling,” said Rios. Because it ensures that the City of Chula Vista and the police department aren’t operating with impunity.”
For more than 100 days now, Rios has fed, clothed, and comforted weary migrants stranded in what’s become a no-man’s land along the U.S. and Mexico border fence in San Ysidro.
Rios lives not far from the border, in Chula Vista. He questions how much drone footage Chula Vista is sharing with Border Patrol and ICE.
“There is a concern that a program such as the drones has a much bigger impact on vulnerable community members,” says Rios.
Especially, he says, given drone launch locations include places like Sharp Hospital Chula Vista.
“It really puts into question what data they are gathering,” says Rios.
For too long, Rios says, the public had no real way of knowing what video police recorded, when, why and who else had access.
“It’s a surveillance program that unfortunately hasn’t had the scrutiny that it merits,” says Rios.
Rios and Castanares both hope that scrutiny can now begin, thanks to a court decision shedding light on a police program that operated in the dark.
A spokesman for the City of Chula Vista says the city is evaluating the ruling to determine the next appropriate step, but will not comment further.
Many police agencies use that investigatory record exemption to seal records indefinitely. That’s why Castanares believes this case could be a game changer for public access to many other types of police records, far beyond drone video footage.
