People who call 911 in Anne Arundel County might soon hear the buzz of a drone before they see a police officer.

Mirroring a controversial nationwide trend in law enforcement, the Anne Arundel County Police Department is expanding its use of “uncrewed aerial systems,” or drones, to support officers.

Using drones more, the department says, can “provide real-time airborne support, reduce response times, and enhance the quality of life for our community.”

“This is one of the most essential tools we have for improving situational awareness, de-escalating potentially dangerous situations, and protecting both our officers and the public,” officials added.

Anne Arundel Police were already using drones to document the scenes of serious car crashes and to search for missing people. “With the expansion,” police spokesperson Marc Limansky said in an email, “a patrol unit can quickly deploy the drone, allowing officers to respond to incidents more efficiently.”

Limansky said the lieutenant in charge of the drone program was not available for an interview. The expansion follows Anne Arundel’s creation of an intelligence center that can tap into cameras around the county.

Montgomery County introduced a drone program to Maryland in November 2023, “Drone as First Responder.” Baltimore and Howard counties are exploring similar initiatives. In the city of Baltimore, police claim to use drones for more limited purposes, such as crime scene preservation.

It’s not surprising that law enforcement is increasingly pivoting to drones, given they are cheap to acquire and deploy compared to planes and helicopters, said David Rocah, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland.

“Obviously it’s being used in all kinds of new ways in armed forces, particularly in Ukraine, and it is frequently the case that military uses migrate to law enforcement,” Rocah said. “That’s the history of persistent aerial surveillance in this country, particularly in Baltimore.”

Anne Arundel Police, like other agencies expanding drone use, outlined a range of policies around the practice. The county’s drones won’t be equipped with facial recognition software or weapons like those increasingly used in war. The little flying machines are to be used “solely for targeted support during critical incidents and investigations,” police said.

“Protecting privacy and civil liberties is paramount to the AACPD,” Limansky said. “Our program operates under clear guidelines and oversight mechanisms to prevent misuse of technology.”

But Rocah said such technology is ripe for abuse, noting that Baltimore for years flew a spy plane over the city, essentially flouting its own policies against using it to surveil people regularly. The ACLU sued, ultimately winning a judgment that effectively prohibited the city from constantly watching and recording from above.

“Police policies, while a necessary starting point, are not a sufficient way to regulate police use of technology, surveillance technology, because police can and do violate those policies all the time with no consequence,” Rocah said. “We’ve seen that in this precise context.”

“Policies are not enough,” he added. “They’re not self-enforcing. There’s no consequences for violating them. ... They can and should be codified into enforceable rules.”

State Del. Robin Grammer, a Baltimore County Republican, introduced a bill this past spring to regulate law enforcement’s use of drones.

“They actually have no boundaries for what and when this can be used. You’re one crisis away from an expansion at all times,” Grammer said in an interview Wednesday. “I just don’t want to live in a country where drones are used by law enforcement. Period.”

His legislation would have limited drone use to when police acquired valid search or arrest warrants, were in fresh pursuit of a subject or assisting in a search-and-rescue operation, were trying to locate escaped prisoners, or were seeking to prevent imminent serious bodily harm or facing a terrorist attack.

Police and prosecutors pushed back at a February hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.

Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger, a Democrat, testified that the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches by the government provides adequate guardrails for police drone use.

“We are not using drones to peer into people’s windows,” Shellenberger said. “We’re merely using them as an effective law enforcement tool to try to make sure that we catch criminals and we look for innocent victims. We can’t keep taking away police officers’ and law enforcement’s good use of technology.”

Lt. Mark Kaylor of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office testified that deputies there caught people breaking into cars twice in 2024 because of drones.

“Under this bill, if an individual broke into a home and fled prior to police arrival, their escape would be made easier by police not being able to use drones,” Kaylor told lawmakers.

Montgomery County Police Capt. Nicholas Picerno, who leads his agency’s special operations, which encompasses the drone unit, called increased drone usage an “amazing force multiplier for law enforcement. In Montgomery County, he testified, drones arrive before officers 70% of the time.

“By doing so, we are able to provide the latest and most pertinent intelligence and information to officers in the field,” Picerno told lawmakers. “By doing so, officers are able to use that information for deescalatory purposes. They are able to make decisions faster, with more information, resulting in safer outcomes.”

The bill failed, having never been brought to a vote in committee.

Grammer told The Banner he was “going to test the waters on” legislation limiting police drones ahead of next year’s legislative session.

“I’m very cynical about how states handle these issues, especially Maryland,” Grammer said. “I’m not very optimistic that they’re going to do anything at the state level to rein this in.”

Rocah, of the ACLU, pointed to Frederick County, whose sheriff’s office says it deploys drones to monitor public gatherings, as a warning. Such use, he said, could have a chilling effect on Americans’ constitutional right to free speech and protest.

What would stop another county, say Anne Arundel, from doing the same?

Said Rocah, “Nothing.”