I’ve been asking this question at the national level where we have seen the EPA, HHS, DOJ, and IRS (to name the “agencies of the day”) obfuscate, mislead, or outright lie to Congress and private Citizens. In each case, we see a partisanship that has not been seen in decades (or worse, the first time). Call me naïve, but regardless of Party-in-Power, the bureaucrats are answerable to “their masters” – be they their higher-ups in the Executive Branch, oversight by the Legislative / Judicial Branches and certainly to individual or groups of Citizens. Our Republic form of government demand nothing less lest we loose that form of Government. Remember: The Bigger the Government, the smaller the citizen.
And the San Jose Police Dept certainly felt that it was unaccountable to Citizens, hiding something of much value to them, until it was no longer able to hide:
San Jose Police Dept. Spends Two Years Denying Any Interest In Drones Before Apologizing And Handing Over Documents
The San Jose Police Department has spent more than two years denying it has a drone in its possession, having returned no responsive documents to MuckRock during its 2012 and 2013 “drone census” document requests. The drone the SJPD pretended to not have in its possession (until just recently) may have not been acquired until early 2014, but its grant application was actually submitted sometime prior to November 30, 2012. But this is how the SJPD responded during previous requests.
When someone makes a FOIA / RTK request to government (Freedom of Information Act in most places, Right To Know here in NH), a “responsive document” means that the government entity (or one outside of government but still receiving taxpayer monies) has something in their possession that pertains to that request. So in this case, the Government agency just flat out lied. It decided that it no longer had to be accountable to Citizens. It decided that it WAS Bigger Government that was larger than an individual citizen. By lying, it made that citizen insignificant.
On December 17, 2012, an analyst within the SJPD Research and Development Unit specifically responded that the department had no records regarding research into drones or plans to use unmanned aerial vehicles. In October 2013, SJPD swatted away a second request for records.
“Our Department does not use aerial drones, remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs), remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs), unmanned aerials (UAs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and/or unmanned aerial systems (UASs), nor does our Fiscal Unit have any records related to these items,” wrote Monique Villarreal, an R&D analyst in the SJPD chief’s office, on October 16, 2013.
Unfortunately for the SJPD, its drone-acquisition activities were generating paperwork elsewhere — documents it couldn’t hide, like city council meeting minutes in which funding for an unmanned aerial vehicle was discussed.
And what did it say in its own defense? Did it decide that it had done wrong and asked for forgiveness? Did someone lose their position and get fired for covering it up for two years? Er, no – not if their own carefully chosen weasel words are to be believed:
In hindsight, SJPD should have done a better job of communicating the purpose and acquisition of the UAS device to our community. The community should have the opportunity to provide feedback, ask questions, and express their concerns before we move forward with this project. To this end, we will first develop a community outreach plan before we take steps to deploy the UAS.
“Communicating”. Right – that simply makes up for it all, yes? Did we lie? No word. Did we hide stuff? No word. Nope – not even a nolo contendre, as it were.
Wish that article had said that the City Council had canned that Chief for such conduct – for if our Government officials can’t be held to the same level they hold we Citizens to, who is then the Public Master?
A bureaucracy that openly plots to overcome Congress's oversight is not a partisan issue, it is an honest-to-God threat to the Republic.
— (((≠))) (@ThomasHCrown) July 9, 2014
Or to its Citizens
