The Marin County Sheriff’s Office takes pride in being a leader in public safety.  It is a top priority of the Sheriff’s Office to explore ways to maintain the public’s safety while also decreasing potential risk to its personnel and fellow public safety partners. In an effort to continuously leverage the latest technology available in the most appropriate manner, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office is introducing the addition of its small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) program to its Field Services Bureau.

The use of UAVs in public safety situations has saved lives. UAVs can be deployed rapidly, access remote or treacherous terrain where people cannot, and can give rescue and response teams life-saving information quickly without putting personnel or the public in danger.

This program will consist of five unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and eight pilots. The sUAS program will be staffed with Sheriff’s Office personnel who have been certified by the FAA and have received at least 40 hours of certified training specific to sUAS operations.

This program will aid in specific critical missions such as search and rescue operations, public safety and life preservation missions, disaster response and documentation, post-incident crime scene preservation and documentation, explosive ordnance disposal incidents, response to hazardous material spills; training missions, as well as fire response and prevention.  The UAV’s will not supplement regular patrol functions, but will only be used for the specific missions listed above. 

This new program will provide the Sheriff’s Office the opportunity to provide a new resource to the public safety community of Marin while maintaining the privacy of its residents according to its policy, applicable laws and regulations: https://www.marinsheriff.org/assets/downloads/pdf/GO-05-32.pdf

The Sheriff’s Office has created a short video to help introduce the program as well. The video can be found here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=axoQ01UcVoo

Questions related to the program may be sent to marinuas@marinsheriff.org.