A San Francisco Police Department project proposal suggested that the department's Homeland Security Unit acquire a remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) equipped with video and infrared sensing capabilities.

As citizens of a democracy, we’d like to believe that our tax money is spent on programs and products that will support the nation, and create a better, stronger society. So what do we do when we discover that more than $33 million dollars was spent on a web application few find useful?

On the morning of the April 2, 2012 shooting at Oikos University that killed seven people, Oakland police also faced managing protesters during a federal raid on six cannabis dispensary sites.

Want to help watch the watchers? Suspect your local police department, college or other government entity has been playing around with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's), better known as drones? Help the Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock with our national public records project: The 2012 U.S. Drone Census. Simply provide the contact information for the agency you want to know about, and we'll file the request on your behalf - free of charge.

Raytheon bought drone-related technical services from the University of Arizona for $5,000, according to documents released after a public records request. Its statement of work stipulates developing a tactical unmanned aerial vehicle for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions capable of flying six hours with a maximum height of 10,000 feet.