by Grant Bissell, KSDK
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An aggressive plan to protect downtown St. Louis with surveillance cameras that can read your license plate is being criticized by those who say the cameras are an invasion of privacy.
The plan would add 30 high-tech license plate recognition cameras to the network of 700 cameras that are already aimed at public spaces around downtown. According to Missy Kelley of Downtown STL, Inc., the cameras would be placed at major intersections and bridges and installation will begin this summer.
“That way we will know who is coming in and out of downtown,” said Kelley.
NewsChannel 5 has learned the cameras will be monitored by the St. Louis Police Department and Kelley says the information will only be used to help solve and hopefully prevent crimes.
“This helps to give that visible security presence which does help deter crime,” said Kelley.
But Tony Rothert, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri disagrees, writing in an emailed statement:
“While on the surface, investing in surveillance cameras might seem like a good way to deter crime, increasing government surveillance without safeguards in place to ensure that privacy is protected will erode civil liberties. The notion that crime will be reduced is speculative, but the risk to the right to privacy is real.”
Kelley says the cameras will be used within all current laws and guidelines. But added because the cameras are fairly new technology, a lot of those rules are still being ironed out.
According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Information Division, there were 61 crimes reported in the downtown neighborhood from January 1, 2015 through January 25, 2015. During the same time period in 2014, there were 53 total crimes downtown, representing an increase of eight crimes, or 15.1%.
Of those total crimes, nine person crimes were reported in the downtown neighborhood. During the same time period in 2014, eight person crimes were reported, representing an increase of one crime, or 12.5%. There were 52 property crimes reported in the downtown neighborhood. During the same time period in 2014, there were 45 property crimes, representing an increase of seven crimes, or 15.6%.
