Eyes in the Sky, Rights on the Line: Sandoval and Criminal Law Expert Investigate Police Drone Impact

Examining what’s at stake as police power takes flight in Oregon and beyond

What happens when new eyes in the sky meet enduring questions about rights, power, and community?

This fall, Addison Sandoval, in conversation with University of Oregon School of Law Professor Tom Lininger—a nationally recognized criminal law expert and a former federal prosecutor—launches a project designed to ask what’s shifting as technology and tradition intersect. With surveillance drones quietly changing the shape of public safety in Oregon, California, and beyond, Sandoval sets out to explore what’s truly at stake.

The project, developed under the auspices of the University of Oregon School of Law, the top-ranked criminal practice program in Oregon, digs beneath the headlines to illuminate what often remains unspoken, just as lines blur between innovation and established norms. As these modern machines take flight, the true winners and losers remain unclear. What isn’t in doubt: the ground beneath our feet—and the sky above—is shifting.

Stay tuned—further details will emerge as the inquiry unfolds. Some stories start on the ground. The most urgent ones, this time, begin in the sky.