ACLU of St. Louis, MO will provide cameras to tape police

[Thom Little]

The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, a frequent critic of the city police, says it plans to arm residents of the city's north side with video cameras to record officers' dealings with the public.

The activist group says the department often mistreats and unfairly targets blacks and said it hopes the presence of cameras will act as a deterrent to police abuse and result in smoother dealings between residents and police.

The group said the cameras will start rolling in the summer, after a series of workshops near Fairground Park where blacks can learn about how to protect their rights during dealings with police. The program is called the Racial Justice Initiative.

ACLU leaders notified Police Chief Joe Mokwa of its plans in meetings during the fall. Neither the ACLU nor the police knew of any other previous effort nationally to put officers under private surveillance.

The department has responded with a shrug. While some commanders are leery of having their officers taped, Mokwa said, "It's legal and there is nothing wrong with it."


http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/9B76BA4A1A51D52A862570E80072B913?OpenDocument

[ikojo]

1. The Democratic mayor continues to oppose a

civilian oversight board. The racial divisions in the city of St Louis are serious.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Pergaps a letter-writing campaign...

To this silly and stupid man is in order?

[ikojo]

3. There is a group, Coalition Against Police Crimes and

Repression, who has been working diligently on this issue. They have had board bills introduced in the board of aldermen but it fails across racial lines, with all the black aldermen supporting civilian oversight and the white aldermen opposed.

There have been pickets and calls for boycotts of St Louis all to no avail. CAPCR wants civilian oversight with subpoena power and the mayor does not support that.

[Selatius]

5. This is a fucking shame.

This is 2006, and we still have jackasses living out in the countryside with mentalities straight from the 1950s Deep South.

[zann725]

4. Considering L.A.'s tainted police human rights record, why not here?

Great idea. And not just for minorities. Pretty soon we'll ALL need cam's. Though who says if your rights are TRULY being violated you'll EVER have a chance to get your evidence "developed?"