In Anne Arundel County, drones might soon be on the scene before police
- Scott Shellenberger
- Aug 11, 2025
- 4 min read
Alex Mann | The Baltimore Banner | August 7, 2025 | Original Source
County police are expanding drone use to crime scenes and
emergencies, but some worry about expanding law enforcement
use of drones.
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.”
Alex Mann covers Anne Arundel County for The Baltimore
Banner. Before joining The Banner, he was a reporter at The
Baltimore Sun, most recently covering criminal justice. He was
a 2023 finalist for the Livingston Awards in local reporting.
Earlier in his career, he wrote for The Capital and for The Carroll
County Times.
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