The Facts

San Franciscans overwhelmingly support modern police technology. Our new GrowSF poll found:

• 72% support police using drones and cameras after a 911 call to assist an active investigatio
• 64% support continuous live camera monitoring in open-air drug markets is (rising to 69% with added civil-liberties protections)
• 67% support using drones to prevent illegal dumping and support enforcement

FM3 Research surveyed 662 voters from July 8–19 in English and Chinese; the margin of error was 4.9 percentage points. GrowSF always uses a professional polling firm to ensure our questions are without bias and the sample is representative of all San Franciscans.

The Context

Voters approved Proposition E in March 2024 by 54.09% to 45.91% to allow police to use drones for active investigations. It also changed rules for cameras, vehicle pursuits, police paperwork, and oversight of new surveillance tools.

The tools are helping police make arrests. In June, police said a drone tracked a suspected auto-burglary crew into Chinatown; officers arrested three suspects and recovered stolen property.

The GrowSF Take

Activists on social media are all a-tizzy railing against these technologies, but they are very popular with normal people.

The warnings that modern police tools would create an intolerable surveillance state have not survived contact with reality: drones and cameras help officers follow suspects, recover stolen property, and make arrests.