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Here’s All the Ways St. Louis Police Are Watching You

Published

1 year ago

May 14, 2024

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St. Louis police are watching you with 630 cameras, two unmanned aircraft systems (a.k.a. drones), 379 license plate readers and more. These eyes in the sky are documented in the city’s first annual surveillance technology report.

The report, compiled by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Commissioner Robert Tracy, details the use of surveillance technology in the city. In a release about the report, Mayor Tishaura Jones credited the technology for a reduction in homicides.

“In 2023, St. Louis had 21 percent fewer homicides and a 22 percent decrease in part one crime,” her office says. “The Mayor’s public safety approach centers prevention, intervention and enforcement. Surveillance technology can be a vital tool for law enforcement to get to the scene of the crime quickly and as an investigative tool to bring justice to victims of crime.”

The report has a brief overview of what each tool does and how it can potentially be used, as well as what it costs the city to implement.

It specifies how many requests or hits each tech tool had, noting that it received 225,276 requests for footage from surveillance cameras in the city in 2023, nearly 100,000 of them from outside agencies. The cameras were especially useful to the intelligence division, the report says: “Intelligence Division installed approximately 10 covert cameras that were used in criminal investigations and Environmental Investigations Unit issued 470 Summons, resulting in 563 charges.”

And, in a one-year period, the department’s License Plate Readers received 47,667 license plate hits for felony crimes.

But what the report doesn’t say is how often these technologies have made mistakes or were used improperly, and it doesn’t specify how many cases were successfully prosecuted as a result of the evidence they provided.

It also mentions a highly controversial recognition service — St. Louis Mugshot Comparison Technology — provided through the city’s REJIS subscription. This technology has come under fire for its inability to accurately identify Black faces.

The American Civil Liberties Union is actively pushing back against use of the technology, saying it results in wrongful arrests.

The report did not disclose how exactly the mugshot recognition tool is being used by the city, saying: “Communications with the Saint Louis Fusion Center and the software liaison (Det. Shane Placeway – Maryland Heights Police Department) reviewed that the system does not log the accuracy nor presents that to the end user. The system does not want to provide any information that may suggest one candidate over another. In addition, the system does not save user logins and is not able to determine the total amount of activity used by the SLMPD.”

Only one citizen complaint was made about the surveillance technologies listed in the report from January 1, 2023, to January 1, 2024, the report says. This complaint concerned SLMPD’s use of surveillance cameras.

Civil rights and privacy advocates have criticized the city’s use of ShotSpotter and have pushed for the passage of surveillance oversight in recent months before the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.

To head off a separate board bill creating more oversight for police surveillance technology, Jones issued an executive order with Tracy regarding surveillance transparency. Aldermen argue this didn’t go far enough and later passed the oversight bill, referred to as CCOPS.

Jones credits her executive order as the reason for the report released today. Her media advisory on the report does not acknowledge the more stringent accountability passed by the Board of Aldermen, which she refused to sign — Board Bill 185.

“The Executive Order requires the department to describe how the technology is used, if the technology uses artificial intelligence, how many units of the technology the City uses, how its effectiveness is measured, how the technology is funded, how it is requested, if there have been complaints against the police for the use of specific technology, and which partnerships exist to use the technology,” Jones said in a statement.

While the report compiled by Tracy fulfills the requirements of the executive order, it remains unclear how accurate the surveillance tools truly are.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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