Public Safety Committee hears revised SLMPD surveillance use plans; committee defers votes amid transparency, retention and bias concerns

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen Public Safety Committee on Jan. 10 heard a presentation from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department on revised surveillance use plans covering Resolutions 186–193, including policies for cell-site simulators, facial/mugshot recognition, digital forensics tools, ShotSpotter (sound detection), citywide and mobile cameras, GPS tracking tools and automated license-plate readers. SLMPD staff described technical and policy edits and said the department posted revised plans online on Jan. 2.

The committee did not vote on any of the resolutions after the presentation and extensive public comment. Chair Narayan said the committee would hold the items in committee and requested follow-up work, including routing updated materials to the City Clerk for public access.

Why it matters: The proposals, required under the city’s civilian oversight ordinance (the CCOPS ordinance), would codify how SLMPD uses a range of surveillance tools. Voting now would put multi-year rules in place for technologies that civil liberties groups, privacy advocates and community residents say need clearer vendor details, retention limits and oversight safeguards.

SLMPD presentation and scope

Monet, identified in the meeting as SLMPD chief of staff, told the committee the department started drafting the plans in August, posted revised versions to the department website on Jan. 2 and incorporated public feedback and examples from other cities. “We started working on these plans back in August,” Monet said, and later added that revisions address public concerns and “product descriptions” and more granular policies on authorized uses and prohibitions.

Monet reiterated that some technologies require search warrants or court authorization. She said Cellebrite and a second phone-extraction tool require search warrants; a vehicle-forensics…