Legislation Would Add Accountability, Transparency to City Surveillance Programs
Privacy Watch applauds Alderman Terry Kennedy for his introduction of Board Bill 66, legislation that would provide a measure of oversight to new surveillance technologies. The bill would require surveillance programs to receive the approval of the Board of Aldermen.
Before approval is granted, authorities would need to show that they have in place adequate policies to protect privacy and other civil liberties. They would need to protect communities of color and other historically targeted groups from disparate impacts.
The bill also requires cost/benefit analyses to guarantee that surveillance programs are effective.
The bill comes while St. Louis is rapidly expanding its surveillance capabilities. Its use of Stingray technology, which captures all cell phone information in a blanketed area, has resulted in criminal cases being dismissed. The Real Time Intelligence Center, sometimes called the Real Time Crime or Transportation Center, is expanding its network of street cameras, license plate readers and other surveillance technologies.
“The current policies in place do not adequately protect civil liberties, nor do they guarantee that information gathered, regarding people who are not even suspected of criminal actions, will not be used for the wrong purposes,” said Mustafa Abdullah, Lead Organizer for the ACLU of Missouri. “With a history of surveillance technologies disproportionately affecting people of color and other targeted groups, we have to be vigilant in protecting our freedoms.”
After the City acknowledged in 2015 that its policies needed updating, and that police department policy needed to be harmonized with a separate city policy, a task force of civil libertarians and public officials worked to create an update. As it was being finished in the spring of 2016, city officials abandoned the project. In early 2017 the old policies remained in place.
“We are all concerned about the rise in violent crime,” said Allison Reilly, Local Group Coordinator of Amnesty International-St. Louis. “Cameras have not been shown to be effective in stopping violence. We need to re-think our public safety strategies and make sure we are spending our resources wisely.”
Several other organizations endorse this bill, in addition to the Privacy Watch coalition: ArchCity Defenders, Drone Free St. Louis, Metropolitan Congregations United, MoKaBe’s Coffeehouse, PLEA for Justice, St. Louis Action Council and The Deep Abiding Love Project.
Privacy Watch will hold a town hall meeting to discuss these issues on June 22 from 6 - 8 p.m., at First Unitarian Church of St. Louis, 5007 Waterman Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108.
Privacy Watchis a St. Louis, Missouri coalition with the mission of ending over-surveillance by government and government/corporate partnerships. We will expose the methods, tools, and processes by which the people of St. Louis are being tracked without public discussion or approval. We will work to end unwarranted targeting of our communities with surveillance tactics and technologies that threaten our civil rights and liberties. In all our work, we will center communities of color and other unjustly targeted groups as those most affected by invasive government monitoring. Privacy Watch member organizations include: ACLU of Missouri; Amnesty International USA, St. Louis Group #105;Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression; Empower Missouri; Fight for the Future; Metro St. Louis Coalition for Inclusion and Equity; Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment; National Lawyers Guild, St. Louis and Organization for Black Struggle.