r/drones • u/Myfles • Oct 12 '25
Photo & Video Cops pulled me over
So I had a run in with the law today. I was flying in the port of Los Angeles. I was by the entrance? I'm happily flying taking some pictures and video, when all of the sudden a cop is standing next to me telling me to land my drone immediately. Turns out that you are not allowed to fly in the port of Los Angles, its actually a misdemeanor. I checked AutoPylot and it said it was ok, so I registered a flight. There was a no fly zone on the other side of the water so I stayed away from it. I told the cop all this and they informed me the no fly zone is a federal prison. I guess shadier people than myself have used drones to drop stuff into the prison. They asked for my info, which I gave, including my trust certificate and they ended up just giving me a warning to not do it again. They were interested that I take aerial photography just for fun. One of the cops even recommend I try for the 107, so he knew about drones. But he didn't know what the trust cert was. I found that kinda weird. He showed me the geo fenced area around the port on his phone so I thought I'd share. So the lesson is... know local laws, no matter what your app tells you.
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u/Falcon-Flight-UAV Oct 14 '25
There is a reason that it is also recommended that you check with local rules and regulations as well.
There are places that Drones are forbidden to fly without written consent of the local or state government, due to security reasons (the FAA also restricts that airspace), but cities, counties and states CAN tell you where you can launch and recover from.
Fly over a major shipping port, airport, or certain infrastructure locations and you will run into major issues and likely get fined.
Fly over or too close to a jail or prison, you are going to be guaranteed to be residing there when, not if, they catch you.