Jay Stanley, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Maryland House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 15 that flying video cameras over communities is a new capability that requires legislative guardrails to prevent expansive and persistent surveillance.

“We are in very early days of this technology,” Stanley said. He warned lawmakers that falling hardware costs, evolving FAA rules and automation could make continuous aerial monitoring inexpensive and commonplace, increasing the risk of persistent tracking across space and time.

Stanley praised Montgomery County’s steps on public reporting and operational limits but urged stronger, enforceable safeguards statewide. He recommended usage limits that confine drones to defined emergency circumstances, strict rules on when footage is recorded and published, short default retention periods for non-evidentiary footage, and prohibitions on automated analytics or sharing footage with private companies except where a specific evidentiary or prosecutorial need exists.

“Image retention restrictions, public notice and democratic control — these are critical,” Stanley said, arguing that police should not be allowed to normalize routine aerial patrols. In his testimony he cited concerns about potential future uses, including license-plate-triggered drone patrols, sensor payloads beyond cameras, and private-sector access to government video data for AI training.

Stanley suggested policymakers require audits and performance metrics to evaluate whether a program reduces crime or meaningfully improves safety beyond anecdotal success stories. He also urged that video capturing police use of force or other public-interest incidents be made public and preserved long enough to allow complaints and judicial scrutiny.

After his remarks, committee members asked about the balance between public safety benefits — such as locating missing people — and privacy costs. Stanley acknowledged legitimate emergency uses but said the broader direction of regulations and procurement will determine whether drones remain a narrowly scoped tool or become routine instruments of public surveillance.