Project Vigilant Aims To Improve Police, Community Interaction
ST. LOUIS, June 12, 2007– “Project Vigilant” – a landmark initiative that empowers citizens to monitor harmful law enforcement activity through the use of video cameras– will be officially launched this summer by the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri (ACLU-EM).
“Project Vigilant levels the playing field,” said Brenda Jones, executive director for the ACLU-EM who created the program. “Police officers who know their misconduct will be reported and probably filmed might be less likely to abuse their authority. Project Vigilant is not and should never be perceived as an ‘anti-police’ program. In meetings with St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa, we stressed that we are just as likely to catch the police officers in the course of positive behavior as well as negative. Our project is designed to give police officers more incentive to connect and communicate respectfully with the residents of the communities they patrol.”
The groundbreaking program with national implications will be introduced during a news conference at 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 20 at ACLU-EM’s new headquarters on 454 Whittier in St. Louis.
Because of a high-level of police activity, the Fairground Park neighborhood was chosen as the area where Project Vigilant will be implemented. The neighborhood encompasses Grand Avenue on the east, Emily on the north, Warne on the west, and Fairground Park on the south.
Since last year, a diverse group of community residents have completed “Know Your Rights” workshops led by ACLU of Eastern Missouri Racial Justice Manager Redditt Hudson, and some have undergone training on safe and effective ways to film police
activity. The training was conducted by K.L. Williams, who is a professional police trainer and former St. Louis city police officer.
Other Project Vigilant program components include structured interactions between police and community residents and ACLU-EM advocacy and litigation.
Hudson, who also served as a St. Louis city police officer before leaving the force in 1999, said Project Vigilant should serve as an agent of real change as it relates to racism and the failures it has created throughout the justice system.
“Real change should come from within the system, but it has not,” said Hudson. “So it is being driven from outside the system by initiatives like Project Vigilant. This program will empower individuals and communities to hold the police accountable when they violate the rights of the people they are sworn to protect and serve.”
By partnering with important neighborhood institutions such as Fifth Baptist Church, the Herbert Hoover Boys Club and Beaumont High School—all present or future sites of the workshops—and others, the ACLU-EM hopes to give “Know Your Rights” training at least 25 percent of the Fairground Park community’s 2,400 residents over the next year.
The ACLU-EM is a non-partisan, not-for-profit, membership organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of civil liberties in eastern Missouri. Located in St. Louis ACLU-EM is an affiliate of the national ACLU. The ACLU-EM defends civil liberties and the principles of equality and justice in eastern Missouri through its Litigation, Legislative and Public Education Programs. The ACLU was founded in 1920 as the first public interest law firm of its kind, and is recognized as the country’s foremost advocate of individual rights.