ST. LOUIS — The Board of Aldermen on Friday advanced a bill aimed at closing the city workhouse by the end of the year, then urged Mayor Lyda Krewson to consider an aerial surveillance plan to fight crime.
The board’s 28-0 vote to tentatively approve the workhouse measure came two weeks after members were sharply divided over a proposal to delete all money from the city budget for the jail, formally called the city Medium Security Institution. That never came to a vote.
Alderman John Collins-Muhammad said the bill backed Friday differs from the earlier proposal because it requires “a comprehensive and complete plan†to be developed by Corrections Commissioner Dale Glass and others. Collins-Muhammad, D-21st Ward, had spoken against the budget move.
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Collins-Muhammad also noted that Friday’s bill, sponsored by Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, earmarks some money saved by closing the workhouse on preparing people held there to reenter society. Other money would go to anti-poverty programs in high-crime areas.
Alderman Bret Narayan, D-24th Ward, and other aldermen commended activist groups in the Close the Workhouse campaign that lobbied and protested for several years to try to get the facility shut down.
“It’s a true testament to what can happen when the citizenry gets involved and doesn’t give up,†Narayan said.
But some aldermen who voted for the bill worried about meeting the Dec. 31 timeline set in the bill for closing the Hall Street facility.
“We are really fast-tracking this and we’re putting our commissioner in an awkward space,†said Alderman Tammika Hubbard, D-5th Ward.
She added that she didn’t want the closure of the workhouse to result in too many people held at the main city jail downtown.
“We would not like to be sued if we have an overcrowding problem,†Hubbard said.
Krewson’s spokesman, Jacob Long, reiterated her position that the city already has been working on rethinking its correctional system, including possibly operating only the downtown jail at some point. He added that the city also needs to responsibly balance the safety of the community at large with its obligations to house detainees on serious and violent felony charges.
“Just arbitrarily setting dates and deadlines for closing MSI without taking all of this into account does not get us a safer ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½,†Long said in an email. Long didn’t say whether Krewson would sign Reed’s bill if it passes.
Another alderman who voted for the bill, Joe Vaccaro, D-23rd Ward, said he worried that workhouse inmates who can use a full gym and take part in various other activities there would encounter a more restrictive situation if moved to the higher-security jail downtown.
“When this is all said and done … we’re going to be getting more phone calls and complaints than you’ve ever seen about how unjust this is,†Vaccaro said. “We did this because it was the political thing to do, possibly not the right thing.â€
The bill also instructs Glass to determine the cost of contracting with other Missouri jails to house detainees now at the workhouse.
The board, meanwhile, voted 16-11 for a nonbinding resolution urging Krewson to reconsider an Ohio company’s proposal to use aircraft cameras to track movements of suspects and vehicles moments after a crime is committed. The Krewson administration last fall took a look at the idea after it was proposed to an aldermanic committee but did not pursue a contract.
The resolution sponsor, Tom Oldenburg, D-16th Ward, said the company offers an innovative technology that “has the ability to significantly aid in solving unsolvable crimes and reducing the violence that is upon the city of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.â€
Planes would employ wide-angle cameras with constant footage that would be used in concert with existing street-level cameras. The company, Persistent Surveillance Systems, says the cameras can only track pixels and not identify individuals.
But opponents during a lengthy debate warned that the plan would violate average citizens’ civil liberties because anyone walking down a city street would be photographed.
“We in the United States of America have a right to privacy,†said Alderman Sharon Tyus, D-1st Ward. “I don’t want to give it away. This is Big Brother.â€
Alderman Megan Green, D-15th Ward, warned that some information gathered through the aerial cameras could be sold by the private company for other uses.
“It’s not public safety, it’s monetization of data,†she said.
But some board members from higher-crime wards said the aerial surveillance plan is especially needed in their areas. They said such neighborhoods typically have relatively few street cameras maintained by the city and businesses.
“I represent people who are living in fear,†said Alderman Jeffrey Boyd, D-22nd Ward. “We need some help and we need some hope.â€
Krewson, asked about the resolution during a Facebook Live session, said “we have a huge violent crime problem, you all know that, and so all tools are worth considering. But with the surveillance you also have privacy considerations.â€
The mayor didn’t say whether she would have further talks with the company.
Erin Heffernan of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
