Classic example of the Nothing to hide argument.
If we had a story of a Police officer using the drone to follow his dominos order, or his ex-girlfriend -- thatd be a story about abuse of power and quite newsworthy.
So do we need to wait for abuse with this specific piece of technology in order to be concerned?
Like IMO the real recourse is to come down hard on the abuses of power, and that includes things like getting Citizens united taken down so that police union(s) are not so powerful etc.
I'm generally more interested in root causes than pruning the leaves. Which I realize often is not the "pragmatic" choice.
Police Officer Accused of Tracking Partner Using License Plate Reader: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/us/milwaukee-police-offic...
Passive surveillance would be your example. This program is specifically activated when an active investigation is in progress.