Brian Johnson is essentially a one-man army against illegal dumping. 

He began exploring his neighborhood, the Bayview, with his kids in 2021 and was disgusted by the trash heaps, which he reported to the city. Then he got a drone. 

Now his company Aerbits is partnering with the city of Oakland on a pilot program that will use his drones in a new campaign against his sworn enemy.

The Bay Area has rapidly expanded the use of surveillance technology, aided by new laws that give police greater flexibility to use drones and Flock cameras that read license plates. Law enforcement agencies in Oakland and San Francisco have used these tools to nab suspected bippers (opens in new tab), purse-snatchers (opens in new tab), shoplifters (opens in new tab), and even killers (opens in new tab), but now their tech-fueled war on crime has a new target: piles of garbage.

That puts the technology in the hands of public works departments and city bureaucrats, in addition to police. But residents beset with illegal dumping issues are skeptical the technology will make their streets cleaner.

“People around here, they’re just trying to survive,” said Elwood Allen, 69, who lives in the same East Oakland house in which he was born. “They don’t care about a fine.”

Oakland has been using cameras to enforce illegal dumping laws since 2022 and is in the final stages of selecting a drone operator for the same purpose. The city will use two drones to identify large piles of trash. It will then install 50 license plate-reading cameras at the garbage hot spots over six months, more than doubling its current array of 35.

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Meanwhile, San Francisco’s efforts are aided by a new ordinance that allows the city to use drones and cameras against garbage scofflaws. Details are still being worked out, including what vendor will be selected and how many devices will be purchased. The city is planning to use its license-plate-reading camera network to crack down on illegal dumping and to ticket drivers who use their cars to dump, and is using drones to spot illegal dumping so crews can clean it up quickly. 

The city has a one-year plan to run 40 cameras at 20 illegal dumping locations. 

Offenses in Oakland can be punished with fines from $1,500 to $5,000; in San Francisco, violators are charged $1,000 for each offense. Both cities say those can escalate to criminal charges but did not specify the threshold.

Community advocates paint illegal dumping as a social ill that disproportionately affects low-income and minority neighborhoods, saying regularly appearing piles of garbage are a blight that fosters feelings of disorder and danger.

“When illegal dumping shows up on your block week after week, it sends a message,” said Barbara Lafitte-Oluwole with Faith in Action East Bay. “It says that your neighborhood’s health, safety, and quality of life doesn’t matter.”

In the Bayview, public affairs consultant and candidate for District 10 supervisor Theo Ellington said illegal dumping comes up constantly while he’s on the campaign trail. He said the Bayview is a magnet for the problem because it has a high concentration of warehouses and industrial zoning, and is an afterthought to many in City Hall.  

“We’re overlooked by the city because we don’t bring in the money,” said Ellington, who lives in the Hunter’s Point shipyard community. “It’s an underserved community but has the greatest opportunity to be revitalized.”

Indeed, the same qualities that bring trash could bring opportunity, attracting autonomous vehicle and robotics companies that need warehouses and open space. But an influx of tech money would be more likely if the streets were cleaner, he said.

Not everyone is bullish about the new tech.

Allen said that rather than cracking down on scofflaws, Oakland should have roaming patrols of garbage collector trucks regularly cleaning up dump sites. His neighbor suggested a city-run free dumping site for residents.

As for the drones: Allen said he’s reserving judgement until he sees results. 

“I don’t have no answer,” he said. “My answer is they need to clean up the mess.”