Orange County Grand Jury
• 2015-2016
• Agency Response
Response to:
Drones: Know Before You Fly 5/26/2016, 2086 KB
Drones: Know Before You Fly.*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 7 findings
F1
Recreational drones have greatly increased in number since December 2015 and it is probable their unregulated use will pose significant threats to public safety and privacy in Orange County cities and unincorporated areas. Response: Based on the information provided, the City of Tustin agrees partially with this finding. As stated on of the report, the Grand Jury "restricted examination of the topic of drones to the expanding recreational/hobbyist market and its consequences for Orange County's emergency responders." Accordingly, we cannot fully agree regarding the significance of threats to privacy, as sufficient information regarding this specific topic has not been presented. However, anecdotally, the Police Department in Tustin reports that calls regarding drones primarily relate to privacy issues.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Each City Council should direct its City Attorney to provide a report to the City's police department and City Council on existing laws that can be applied to the use of recreational drones in the city's jurisdiction by December 30, 2016. Response: The City of Tustin has complied with this recommendation.
F2
With the exception of the recent Federal Aviation Administration registration rule, recreational drone owners are largely self-policed, which leads to a wide range of behavior. Response: Based on the information presented in this report, the City of Tustin agrees with this finding. Mayor John Nielsen • Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Allan Bernstein • Rebecca "Beckie" Gomez • Al Murray • Charles E. "Chuck" Puckett 300 Centennial Way. Tustin. CA 92780 • (714) 573-3010 • www.tustinca.org
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Each City should adopt a recreational drone ownership and operation ordinance, with regulations similar to those found in Los Angeles City ordinance #183912, by March 31, 2017, to the extent not preempted or superseded by Federal law or Federal Regulations. Response: The City of Tustin will not implement this recommendation because it is not warranted. The City of Tustin believes that regulation of drones should be left to, or directed by, aviation experts. We believe that pending proposed state legislation as well as the proposed FAA Reauthorization Act of 2016 cited in the Grand Jury report would more effectively address drone ownership and operation and provide a more uniform set of rules as compared to a patchwork of local ordinances. Additionally, the regulations recommended by the Grand Jury report do not address the most frequent concerns reported to the City of Tustin and its Police Department, which is privacy.
F3
Most of the cities and unincorporated areas of the County of Orange do not have a drone ordinance, nor do they have any immediate plans to enact an ordinance in the near future. Response: Based on the information presented in this report, the City of Tustin agrees with this finding. The City of Tustin does not have an ordinance directly regulating drones nor are there immediate plans to enact regulations.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Each City should inform its citizens about laws and ordinances that apply to recreational drone operators through print media, city-related web sites, social media sites and/or public forums by March 31, 2017. Response: As stated below for recommendation R5, the City of Tustin will implement this recommendation by December 30, 2016 by publishing one item to the City's Facebook page and at least one website posting recommending that drone owners and FAA posted by the on recommendations operators review the www.knowbeforeyoufly.org.
F4
Most of the cities provide no educational programs for public awareness of the safety issues connected to recreational drones. Response: Based on the information presented in this report, the City of Tustin agrees with this finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Each City should establish and publish on its website a point of contact for drone- related citizen complaints by December 30, 2016. Response: The City of Tustin has already implemented this recommendation. The City of Tustin has established the Police Department as the single point of contact for drone incidents. Individuals can reach Special Investigations Unit Supervisor Sgt. Jon Cartwright by calling (714) 573-3265 for non-emergency drone incidents or 911 for emergencies.
F5
Some Orange County cities, despite recognizing potential issues with drones, are awaiting drone-related legislative action or other guidance by the State of California or FAA before enacting local ordinances. Response: Based on the information provided, the City of Tustin agrees with this finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Each City should post FAA drone ownership and operation educational links on city- related websites, newsletters, and flyers by December 30, 2016. Response: The City of Tustin will implement this recommendation by December 30, 2016 by publishing at least one item to the City's Facebook page and at least one City website posting recommending that drone owners and operators review the recommendations posted by the FAA on www.knowbeforeyoufly.org [The Grand Jury Report does not call for a response from the City of Tustin to Recommendations 6, 7 or 8.]
F6
The FAA-required registration of recreational drones provides a useful tool for local enforcement of drone ordinances. Response: The City of Tustin partially agrees with this finding. The report does not demonstrate how the FAA-required registration provides a useful tool for local enforcement of drone ordinances. As stated in the report, the "registration requirement is a powerful tool for identifying owners of drones." Aside from the potential for identifying the owner of a drone if the drone is somehow captured by law enforcement after a violation of a drone-related law, the City of Tustin does not agree that the identification of drone owners would assist with enforcing rules or imposing penalties.
No recommendations for this finding
F7
Orange County cities have not established a procedure for reporting drone incidents, which results in under-reporting of drone safety and privacy events. Response: Based on the information provided, the City of Tustin agrees partially with this finding. It appears from the stakeholder research provided in the report that most Orange County cities do not have a procedure for reporting drone incidents. The only discussion of under-reporting in the report is expressed in terms of the opinion of the OCSD Bomb Squad on . Accordingly, the City of Tustin respectfully disagrees with this part of the finding based on a lack of evidence.
No recommendations for this finding
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.