Reform, Not Drones, Solution for St. Louis Crime

by Danielle Stickler, Brent Wingerter, Leah Smith, and Ian Sullivan, students at St. Louis University

St. Louis police chief, Sam Dotson, confirms on Twitter that drone usage has been approved by the FAA and will be flying in St. Louis within the next 10 to 12 months. His live Twitter chat and Q&A session, hosted on Monday, allowed for people of the St. Louis community to ask questions about drones and drones in police work.

Dotson allowed for an open forum and answered the questions that he seemed to be the most important and fitting to the subject matter. He confirms that the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has given the department the first green light towards obtaining a permit to use the devices.

So what does this mean for the St. Louis community? Dotson does not know. He says, “There were a lot of questions about drones, but a lot of them came from the same people. I’ve been slow, methodical and judicious about the drone conversation. We haven’t spent any money on them and there aren’t drones flying around, but everyone has an opinion about it. It’s a conversation we need to have … and I’m certainly not hiding from it, but I’m still in the process of listening and making decisions on what’s the best approach.”

Dotson seems to have a deep fascination with drones and how they will better ensure safety, but he offers no evidence to show that the people of St. Louis will be safer with drones flying overhead. If St. Louis city decides to spend money on drones rather than more important and necessary necessities then there needs to be more than just a “conversation” to be had.

Drones cannot help the city of St. Louis from its crime, reform can. And the only way we can reform is by putting more money into our public schools and less money into our high end military gadgets. Sam Dotson pledged to have another chat and public forum on the matter before money is spent on the program. Hopefully, our voice will not fall on deaf ears yet again.