The documents we received from Seattle Police Department are perhaps the most troubling so far. Earlier this year, we reported how the Seattle City Council found out about the Seattle Police Department’s two drones only after Seattle’s name showed up on the FAA list released as part of EFF’s Freedom of Information …. When the police department went before the city council to apologize, they also pledged to work with the local ACLU affiliate to draw up privacy guidelines.

As MuckRock described, in July, Seattle Police Department issued departmental drone guidelines which, “limited UAS use to specific circumstances, underscoring that drones were not to be used ‘to provide random surveillance.’” But less than a month later, the policy was inexplicably eliminated: “A directive dated August 15, 2012 rescinded the drone deployment guidelines, without indicating any replacement guidelines or explaining the reasoning behind the move.”

While the department has rescinded the limitations, they also plan to expand their drone program and purchase two new units, despite the fact that the two drones they’ve already purchased sit unused. Given that the documents also suggest that “the FAA will significantly expand the area where [SPD] can operate [drones] in 2012” it is imperative that the City Council holds the police department to implementing binding privacy guidelines to protect its citizens.