by Charlie Edelen, PEP Board Member, Jobs with Justice Communications Organizer<\/p>\n
Last week,\u00a0an article was written in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch<\/a>\u00a0about how St. Louis City Police Chief Sam Dotson is working to get drones on the police force.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2026well\u2026pretty much anything else.<\/p>\n The article starts off:\u00a0“In Chief Sam Dotson\u2019s 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.”<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0\u00a0Or the birds in the St. Louis Zoo are watching my every move.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n One of these slopes is how we allow drones to operate in our own city if\/when we ever get them. Indeed,\u00a0Senator Rand Paul’s 13-hour filibuster<\/a>\u00a0comes to mind, after President Obama signaled he hadn’t used drones to kill any Americans at home yet, but could if it were necessary.<\/p>\n