By Matthew Halverson
It’s not exactly proof that Big Brother is tightening his grip on St. Louis, but it’s a start: After months of delays, the Metro Police are just about to roll out a downtown surveillance-camera project aimed at nabbing the ne’er-do-wells who’ve kept us in competition for that “most dangerous city” title we’re all so fond of.
The high-powered cameras will be mounted on buildings throughout the city, but it won’t be the fuzz with their fingers on the zoom button. Teams of three Downtown St. Louis Partnership employees will man the cameras from the department’s Bikes & Beats substation on 9th Street for about 60 to 80 hours a week, according to Ken Gabel, director of the Clean & Safe programs.
(Does this mean we can expect the Downtown Partnership to change its slogan from “Downtown Is Alive: The Signs Are Everywhere” to “Downtown Is Alert: The Eyes Are Everywhere”?)
The project will start small—plans call for only eight cameras initially—so maybe the eyes aren’t everywhere, but it might not be long before they are. Gabel says Chicago’s police department (the unofficial model for the St. Louis surveillance program) has 300 of its own cameras but can tap into 3,000 throughout the city, and something similar may be on the horizon here.
“We’re starting off with a low number of cameras, but it’s our hope that will grow,” says St. Louis assistant chief Stephen Pollihan, who’s heading up the project for the police.
Keep your eyes peeled, St. Louis—it looks like Big Brother will be doing the same thing
