The St. Louis Police Department’s proposal to set up an extensive city-wide surveillance system has been called “disturbing” by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU’s 36-page study of a plan to link government surveillance cameras with private business cameras with no limits on how long information is kept is called “troubling.” Missouri Executive Director Jeffrey Mittman says similar scenarios are likely happening in other cities.
What would set St. Louis apart is the possible formation of a Real Time Intelligence Center. Mittman says different constitutional questions are involved. “If the intention…is to increase the storage capability so that data can be kept for longer periods of time, that’s a yellow, orange, and in some cases red flag,” he says. “If an intention..is to include private business camera which do not have the same protections that governmental cameras have…again, very large red flag.”
