St. Louis Board of Aldermen begin hearing on police technology

ST. LOUIS - The use of police surveillance is now under surveillance itself in St. Louis. The impact of new regulations on police in the City of St. Louis is now unfolding at City Hall. 

The Board of Aldermen’s Public Safety Committee began its two-day hearing Wednesday on eight resolutions that must be approved for police to continue using various technologies they use.

That includes the shot spotter, which detects the sound of gunfire and alerts police to the location, plus a network of nearly 650 police surveillance cameras deployed across the city, in addition to cell phone trackers and software for comparing mug shots. 

Aldermen are now sending a message to police with a new city ordinance requiring police to justify their use of surveillance technologies. They say if the police want to use all of the technology, they've got to answer a few questions. 

Cell-Site simulator technology specifically came under scrutiny over fears among a few aldermen that it could be used against protesters, for instance, exercising First Amendment rights.

Police Chief Robert Tracy presented the committee with a close to 50-page “Surveillance Use Plan,” which the public can see online. It spells out things like police needing a judge’s order to use a Cell-Site simulator except in cases of imminent danger to someone, such as a kidnapping, but not protests, Tracy said.

“It’s only used in criminal investigations. It’s not used at protests; it’s not used to surveil our citizens and their First Amendment rights,” he told the committee.

Later, he told FOX 2, “We’re trying to calm some of those fears about what are police doing, making sure with some of this technology, we’re not surveilling the public; we’re using it to, I like to say, catch bad guys.”

“I don’t think it’s a boogey man,” Alderman Rasheen Aldridge (Ward 14), who spearheaded the police technology ordinance passed earlier this year, said. “I think it’s actually important to be transparent within our city government and in different departments and make sure residents are very clear how these technologies are being used: If it’s shot-spotter, if it’s red light cameras, if it’s license plate reader... the reality is, technology is evolving within minutes, especially with AI constantly just kind of running off on its own.”

Aldermen just want to help residents keep up with it all and see that it’s used fairly for all, he said.

That’s exactly what’s been happening all along, according to Tracy.

In the City of St. Louis, the Board of Aldermen will now have the final say on that. 

It’s not clear yet if or when all eight resolutions will go before the full board.