The Washington County Sheriff's Office deployed drones 650 times in 2025, part of a statewide boom that has grown Oregon's public drone fleet from zero in 2013 to 690 active aircraft as of this year.

WCSO launched its Drone as First Responder program on February 20, stationing Skydio X10 drones at charging docks in Aloha. The aircraft fly at about 200 feet with red and blue emergency lights, piloted by FAA-licensed operators.

On July 2, deputies used a DFR drone to track a wanted suspect near SW 202nd Terrace and SW Kim Place in Aloha during a foot pursuit, providing real-time location updates until the man was caught near SW 203rd Court.

Two months earlier, on Tuesday, May 12, a drone monitored a suspicious vehicle at 4050 SW 160th Avenue in Aloha, observing a suspect emerge from a storage unit before K9 Rexx and Deputy Oien tracked him to brush near SW Blanton Street.

Sheriff Caprice Massey said at the program's February launch that the 650 deployments in 2025 represented "650 moments when we were able to assess danger more quickly, provide real-time information to deputies, and protect both our community members and first responders."

What the law allows

Oregon's 2013 drone law (HB 2710) prohibits armed drones and restricts law enforcement surveillance to cases involving a search warrant or a life-threatening emergency such as search and rescue.

That framework held in 2025. Senate Bill 238, which would have allowed warrantless drone use for broader emergencies, died in committee after 97% of 1,100 public letters opposed it. The ACLU of Oregon and farmworkers union PCUN led the opposition, citing concerns about surveillance of marginalized communities.

Under WCSO policy, drones cannot be used to establish probable cause or reasonable suspicion of a crime. The agency stated in its February press release that the privacy of community members is paramount and that pilots strictly adhere to Oregon Revised Statutes when deploying drones.

Statewide picture

Oregon State Police operates 66 registered drones and logged 660 flights in 2026 as of early July, according to the Tribune/Capital Chronicle report. Sgt. William Bush, who became the agency's first drone pilot in 2016, said the most common use is documenting crash scenes.

"Every minute that we can save in documenting a scene and getting those roadways open, we save ourselves the probability that those secondary crashes occur," Bush said.

The Oregon Department of Transportation deployed drones 770 times in 2025 to monitor landslides and map hard-to-reach areas, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife conducted 402 flights for habitat and wildlife surveys.

What's next locally

WCSO leadership said it would conduct a comprehensive review of the DFR trial's deployment data and response times before deciding whether to expand coverage to additional areas of Washington County through a longer-term partnership with Skydio. The agency has not announced the outcome of that review.