To everyone whos saying that the Ferguson protests are doing nothing and that all these people should just shut up and go home: - Legislation is planned to be filed in 2015 that removes the local prosecutors office from the process of prosecuting police officers, because of the obvious conflict of interest that arises from departments that work so closely on a daily basis. - Body cameras (and recording themselves in general) are being adopted by an unprecedented number of police departments, including Ferguson, who have been wearing them during the latest protests. Ellisville, in particular, has said that they have carved out part of their budget; they have taken the stance of we dont really know where were going to get the money, but we see the importance. Slay has also said he is in favor of the City PD having them. - Slay, the Board of Aldermen, and Police Union are working toward enacting a civilian oversight board for the City PD. This was previously vetoed (by Slay), but is being reintroduced. - The MO state auditor is auditing five municipalities in St. Louis and St. Charles Counties (including Ferguson) on the grounds that they are notorious for using their police department and courts to generate revenue from tickets more than protect communities. The average per-capita income of all five municipalities is $18,954.60, and two of the five municipalities wrote more traffic tickets in 2013 than they have citizens living there. Notably absent from here is any meaningful progress at the County PD level, or my overarching gripe that St. Louis County just has too many independent municipalities, but there is real progress and substantive moves planned in the wake of the civil unrest and vocal discussion that only a city like St. Louis has the initiative to take up and demand from its governments.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 15:11:16 +0000
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