Overview

• Anne Arundel County Police Department has formally launched its Patrol Drone Program to support officers with airborne real-time incident response and traffic management
• The department plans to double its fleet from 10 to 20 larger drones, issuing two so far and expanding operator training
• Video and images from drone flights will stream to supervisors and feed into the Real Time Information Center for combined analysis with cameras, license plate readers and 911 data
• A publicly accessible dashboard will display flight dates, times and patterns at least 30 days after each mission starting in 2026, with additional records available through public information requests
• Civil liberties advocates and state lawmakers are calling for codified usage limits after a 2025 bill to restrict police drone operations failed to advance in committee