In some parts of Montgomery County, a police drone is the first official response to the scene of a crime.

When a call comes in for a burglary in downtown Silver Spring, for example, a drone, Raven1, takes off from the rooftop of a building and whizzes to the nearby scene within 70 seconds.

Once the drone is overhead, a police officer in Rockville communicates with patrol officers on the ground, sharing real-time information about what’s visible from the sky.

Lt. Doug Miller, who oversees Montgomery County’s Drone as First Responder Program, said they can get a drone overhead before a suspect even leaves a store.

“We’re able to relay that information to patrol officers and we’re catching people,” Miller said.

Similar scenarios could soon play out in Baltimore County. Joy Lepola-Stewart, a county police spokeswoman, said in an email that the department anticipates a drone program “launching this summer.”

Lepola-Stewart said the department expects its drone program — which she said would be discussed in “informational meetings” this spring — would closely mirror the best practices established by municipalities already operating drone programs, including Montgomery County.

County Executive Katherine Klausmeier said in a statement that she encourages the police department to “explore new technology and ideas” with privacy in mind.

“Our top priority is making sure that our communities are safe so that families and businesses can thrive, and visitors feel welcome everywhere in Baltimore County,” she said.

While Lepola-Stewart said the police department is evaluating where a program could start, Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough told a group of delegates and senators from the county in mid-January that it would start a Drone as First Responder program with a focus in Towson and Randallstown.

Before then, though, some lawmakers in Annapolis want to restrict how police departments around the state can use drones.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the House of Delegates by Robin Grammer, a Baltimore County Republican, would limit the ways police can use drones.

The bill would prohibit police departments from using drones for collecting evidence, surveillance or “any other purpose,” with certain exceptions — such as for executing a search warrant, searching for a missing person or for “fresh pursuit” of a suspect.

Grammer said drone use by police is a “long-term public policy question,” comparing the potential overuse of drones and other aircraft by police to the expansion of surveillance after 9/11.

He does not want to see a country where police use drones or aircraft for “proactive” enforcement or monitoring, he said.

“Where I draw the line is, ‘OK, for every first responder scenario, we’re going to dispatch a drone,‘“ he said. ”It’s just not how I want to live."

Lepola-Stewart said the county police department wants to partner with the community to develop its drone policies. The goal, she wrote, “is to develop a program that enhances public safety, addresses privacy concerns, and meets the needs of our communities.”

Montgomery County has several measures meant to assuage privacy concerns. Drone cameras only point toward the horizon while in flight, and only turn down — and record — while on the scene of an incident.

Recordings don’t capture audio, and are treated like any other police evidence, Miller said. Montgomery County also publishes data about every police drone flight.

Because of the proximity to Washington, D.C., Montgomery County’s drones have “a very restrictive airspace,” Miller said. Operators must have them within their visual line of site at all times. The restricted airspace explains why the drones can respond so quickly.

Montgomery’s drone policy also says police won’t use drones to monitor peaceful protest or apply facial recognition software to the footage, Miller said.

Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, said police drones raise a lot of privacy issues.

“These are flying, robotic video cameras, hovering over peoples houses and communities,” Stanley said.

He called Montgomery’s program a good, if not perfect, model for departments that take privacy concerns seriously.

“I would hope that Baltimore County or anywhere else in Maryland, or around the country would, at the very least, have the equivalent protections,” he said.

Stanley worries that when drones are no longer the hot new thing in policing, departments will roll back or de-emphasize policies around privacy and protecting civil liberties.

“In some ways, the biggest question is, ‘Are we going to sleepwalk into a world from where the moment you walk out the front door, to the moment you get home at night, there are just cameras buzzing overhead?’”

Flying around Maryland

Other jurisdictions in Maryland use drones to assist police work, but not as first responders.

Officers in Howard County use drones for searching for missing persons, locating stolen vehicles, searching fleeing suspects, reconstructing crash scenes and more, police department spokesperson Sherry Llewellyn said in an email.

A video the department shared on Facebook in January shows police officers using a drone to track a car theft suspect who tries to hide beside a townhouse. The suspect appears as a white figure running across the gray screen, followed moments later by an officer who found him.

Officers used drones, deployed from their patrol vehicles, more than 150 times in 2024, Llewellyn said.

“The program has been very successful,” she wrote. “The fact that our drones are out in patrol vehicles allows officers to deploy them quickly and conduct quick battery changes, reducing the time it takes to get back in the air.”

Baltimore City Police have been using drones for about a year. They’re deployed in SWAT situations and crime scene investigations.

And the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office in early February announced it was adding drones to its patrols.

“Drones offer rapid coverage of large areas, aiding in search-and-rescue efforts, public event monitoring, and disaster surveys,” the department said in a news release. “Real-time aerial footage supports faster, informed decision-making, leading to quicker responses and better outcomes.”

Grammer also has a bipartisan bill that would prohibit the use of manned aircraft for “persistent aerial surveillance” like a Baltimore pilot program several years ago. The program ultimately was deemed unconstitutional.

A hearing for both his bills is scheduled for Feb. 25.

This story has been updated to accurately spell Joy Lepola-Stewart's name.