West Hollywood’s drone-as-first-responder pilot program comes back before the City Council Monday, June 29. The program has been on hold for a year.
The City Council approved it and $750,000 in July 2024. It was supposed to be flying before WeHo Pride 2025. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stopped it. LASD told City staff the program couldn’t go forward under its own department-wide drone policy. The problem was recording. West Hollywood’s approved plan called for all drone flights to be recorded. LASD’s policy at the time didn’t allow it.
Recording had been part of the plan from day one. It went before the City’s Human Services Commission, LGBTQ+ Commission, Public Safety Commission, and Social Justice Advisory Board. It was presented to LASD’s own Civilian Oversight Commission. No one objected. The City paused the program June 23, 2025 and waited.
The drone program’s potential showed itself in the interim. In June, a West Hollywood Sheriff’s deputy monitoring the station’s real-time watch center used the camera network and drone program to track a recent US Bank robbery suspect fleeing on foot. Shawn Greene, 35, was arrested at Holloway Drive and La Cienega Boulevard. He was later charged with two counts of bank robbery — the West Hollywood heist and a second job he’d pulled at a Culver City bank two weeks earlier. Sgt. Omar Luvano told WEHOonline the watch center cameras made the arrest. “Those cameras are worth their weight in gold,” he said.
LASD finished a new drone policy April 9. West Hollywood is the only Sheriff’s station under it. Department-wide rollout is planned.
What the Council decides Monday
The staff recommendation is for the Council to receive the update and authorize the program to proceed. City staff presented the updated LASD policy to the Public Safety Commission June 22. The Commission reviewed it but cannot amend the policy itself. LASD’s policy is final, having gone through the department’s Civilian Oversight Commission, Office of the Inspector General, and Office of Constitutional Policing. Commissioner Stephen Post confirmed with staff that a Council majority can pause or halt the program at any point after launch.
Commission concerns are going to Council as part of the staff report. Commissioner Kelly Pilarski said the policy’s “nexus to public safety” standard for drone deployments was too vague and pressed for tighter language. That goes to Council as a note. Pilarski also raised the question of how a member of the public would know whether a drone overhead belongs to the Sheriff’s Department or a private operator. Captain Fanny Lapkin told the Public Safety Commission back in May the drones will carry LASD markings. Post said the policy contains no written prohibition on immigration enforcement, unlike the 2024 station-level draft. Rivas said existing LASD department policies cover that and the omission was not an oversight. “We are not going to work with immigration on any operations,” Lapkin said last month. Post’s concern goes to Council as well.
Vice Chair Blau asked for monthly drone updates in regular sheriff reports to the Commission. Staff said the department is building a public dashboard on its transparency page. The City will post the same data on the Safer WeHo webpage.
What changed
Under the old 2024 station order, the West Hollywood Station captain ran the drone program. The 2026 policy set up a department-wide LASD UAS Operations Unit. It handles training, equipment approvals, FAA coordination, and deployment tracking across the county.
Recording rules are more specific now. A drone going to a call starts recording when it gets to the scene and keeps going until it leaves or the incident wraps up. Camera points toward the horizon in transit. It doesn’t record until it’s on scene. Photography and mapping flights don’t need video at all.
Footage that isn’t evidence used to get deleted after 30 days. Three years now, same as body-worn cameras. The policy also bans facial recognition software on drones and bars putting weapons or less-lethal munitions on them. A drone can’t be sent up just to watch an area — there has to be a public safety reason. Each flight gets logged in LASD’s tracking system within 48 hours. California classifies drones as military equipment, which means annual public reporting on how they’re used and what they cost.
West Hollywood would be the first Sheriff’s station in Los Angeles County to run the program. After one year, a full report goes to the LASD Civilian Oversight Commission before any expansion to other stations.
