Police drones: Not the right direction for St. Louis
by Charlie Edelen, PEP Board Member, Jobs with Justice Communications Organizer
Last week, an article was written in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about how St. Louis City Police Chief Sam Dotson is working to get drones on the police force.
Most of the national conversation and controversy around drones has partly been a philosophical one – is it ethical to use unmanned machines to kill others? Shouldn’t we at least risk an American life to kill another life.
However, the idea of drones being used on our city police force hits a little closer to home. As a resident of this city, which hosts underfunded schools and crumbling roads and bridges, I’m hesitant to support Chief Dotson in his venture.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that the miniature plans cost “from $60,000 to $300,000.” Chief Dotson says he will seek donations and grants to pay for the drones. Alas, I wish we could asks for a couple thousand dollars in donations for…well…pretty much anything else.
The article starts off: “In Chief Sam Dotson’s vision of modern policing, a drone would circle Busch Stadium to watch for terrorists, or silently pursue a criminal who thought the chase was over when the officer in the car behind him turned off its red lights and siren.”
I personally don’t like the thought of watching a drone circle overhead, silently spying on me from behind as I try to enjoy a Cardinals game with friends and family. I dread the day I have to wonder if the insects in the Botanical Gardens are real or a drone. Or the birds in the St. Louis Zoo are watching my every move.
Our country is currently grappling with many hard questions around privacy and surveillance in our material and digital worlds. They are complicated and offer slippery slopes in all directions.
One of these slopes is how we allow drones to operate in our own city if/when we ever get them. Indeed, Senator Rand Paul’s 13-hour filibuster comes to mind, after President Obama signaled he hadn’t used drones to kill any Americans at home yet, but could if it were necessary.
One could argue that drones flying around watching us don’t do any harm if you’re not doing anything wrong. I personally disagree with the sentiment. As this opinion piece on Wired points out, We don’t always know when we have something to hide.
In addition, having armed drones in the sky flying over Busch Stadium wouldn’t be a far stretch from unarmed drones. Is that the St. Louis we want to live in? Oh, Big Brother.
We all need critical diligence and awareness in the coming years on drones and “surveillance” tactics and policies because domestic drones will do more than just watch us, if we’re not careful.
