Sonoma County sued for secret drone surveillance of homes

In what it calls a “runaway spying operation,” the ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a lawsuit last week accusing Sonoma County of conducting warrantless drone surveillance over rural homes — violating residents’ constitutional right to privacy and levying millions in fines based on illegally obtained footage.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Sonoma County Superior Court in collaboration with law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP, targets the county’s Code Enforcement Section (CES), its parent agency, and several key officials. It demands the county cease its use of drones to monitor private property without first obtaining a warrant, as required by the California Constitution.

The ACLU alleges that CES’s drone program, originally launched six years ago to identify unpermitted cannabis grows in hard-to-reach areas, has ballooned into an unchecked surveillance system used to track a wide range of alleged code violations — often without residents ever knowing they were being watched.

“For too long, Sonoma County code enforcement has used high-powered drones to warrantlessly sift through people’s private affairs and initiate charges that upend lives and livelihoods,” said Matt Cagle, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California. “All the while, the County has hidden these unlawful searches from the people they have spied on, the community, and the media.”

The press release outlines the case of Nichola Schmitz, a Deaf plaintiff who lives with her mother and sister on a rural Sonoma County farm. According to the complaint, on October 10, 2023, CES agents flew a drone over her property — without a warrant — and recorded her home, yard, and surrounding area. Schmitz said she only became aware of the drone when another person on the property pointed it out.

“This horrible experience has shattered my sense of privacy and security,” Schmitz said. “I’m afraid to open my blinds or go outside to use my hot tub because who knows when the county’s drone could be spying on me.”

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Schmitz later paid $25,000 to address a grading issue identified by the drone surveillance. She still faces $10,000 in fines for an unpermitted shed and has had a lien placed on her property. The lawsuit argues that, because the drone surveillance lacked a warrant, the evidence should be considered unlawfully obtained.

The ACLU’s press release claims the drone program has spiraled well beyond its original mission — a key feature of what it repeatedly refers to as a “runaway spying operation.” According to the organization, CES officials knowingly expanded the program despite legal concerns and ultimately rejected internal efforts to require warrants.

Under California law, and a 1980 ruling by the state’s Supreme Court, government agencies must obtain a warrant before conducting aerial surveillance of private property and residences.

“These protections are more important than ever today, as drones make it cheaper and easier for government agencies to pry into people’s lives, invade the sanctity of their homes, and upend their finances,” said Jonathan P. Schneller, a partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

The lawsuit seeks a court order barring Sonoma County from conducting further warrantless drone surveillance and calls for systemic reform of the CES’s aerial operations.

The full civil complaint is available below for public inspection.

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