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To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the Santa Ana City Council From: Carlos Perea, Santa Ana Police Oversight Commissioner Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2026 Subject: Concerns with Police Drone Purchase and Supporting Oversight & Transparency Dear Mayor and Members of the City Council, I write to express my concerns and opposition to the proposed agreement authorizing the Santa Ana Police Department ’s purchase of drones and participation in a “Drone as a First Responder ” program. My concerns are ethical, civic, and grounded in the lived experience of immigrant communities in Santa Ana. The vendor selected for this agreement, Axon Enterprise, profits from surveillance and policing infrastructure that is deeply entangled with systems of immigration enforcement and detention. Axon and its subsidiaries maintain contracts with ICE and other federal enforcement agencies at a time when immigrant communities across the country are experiencing unprecedented levels of surveillance, raids, and violence. Separately, Axon has also drawn sustained scrutiny for its role in providing technology used by the Israeli military amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Santa Ana residents should not have to worry that a surveillance company with documented ties to ICE, and whose profits are built on global systems of militarized policing, now has contracts with our City. The expansion of aerial surveillance is not occurring in a vacuum. It must be evaluated in light of communities that will be surveilled. As an immigrant and as a Commissioner on the Santa Ana Police Oversight Commission, I am particularly concerned about the chilling effect that expanded surveillance technologies have on civic participation, protest, and everyday life, especially for undocumented residents, mixed-status families, and communities already subject to cruel immigration enforcement. For these reasons, I urge the City Council to reject the proposed drone purchase agreement, and hold a community townhall to take more time to hear from residents’ concerns. At the same time, I want to express my strong support for the adoption of the Police Oversight Commission bylaws. These bylaws are the result of months of open meetings and deliberation by the Commission. I also strongly support the councilmember-requested item by Councilmember Vazquez directing the City Manager to prepare a public report and directing the Police Oversight Commission to