ACLU Providing St. Louis Cameras To Tape Police

[struggle4progress]

<snip> The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, a frequent critic of the city police, says it plans to arm residents of the city's North Side with video cameras to record officers' dealings with the public.

The activist group says the department often mistreats and unfairly targets blacks and said it hopes the presence of cameras will act as a deterrent to police abuse and result in smoother dealings between residents and police.

The group said the cameras will start rolling in the summer, after a series of workshops near Fairground Park where blacks can learn about how to protect their rights during dealings with police. The program is called the Racial Justice Initiative.

ACLU leaders notified Police Chief Joe Mokwa of its plans in meetings during the fall. Neither the ACLU nor the police knew of any other previous effort nationally to put officers under private surveillance. <snip>

http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=27760