Not content to spy on people using street cameras, the small city of Lancaster, Calif. approved a resolution last week that will allow a crime-fighting spy plane to fly overhead and watch what’s going on below.

The city council voted unanimously last week to allow the surveillance to begin next May.

The Cessna 172 fixed-wing aircraft, equipped with infrared imaging and a video camera, would fly at altitudes between 1,000 to 3,000 feet, up to 10 hours a day, and feed encrypted video footage directly to the Los Angeles County sheriff’s office.

Instead of being deployed only in response to specific...