Baltimore, MD and St. Louis, MO, have a lot in common. Both cities suffer from declining populations and high crime rates. In recent years, the predominantly Black population in each city has engaged in collective action opposing police violence. In recent weeks, officials in both cities voted unanimously to spare their respective residents from further invasions on their privacy and essential liberties by a panoptic aerial surveillance system designed to protect soldiers on the battlefield, not resident's rights and public safety.
Baltimore’s Unanimous Vote to Terminate
From April to October of 2020, Baltimore residents were subjected to a panopticon-like system of surveillance facilitated by a partnership between the Baltimore Police Department and a privately-funded Ohio company called Persistent Surveillance Systems (PSS). During that period, for at least 40 hours a week, PSS flew surveillance aircraft over 32 square miles of the city, enabling police to identify specific individuals from the images captured by the planes. Although no planes had flown as part of the collaboration since late October—and the program was scheduled to end later this year—the program had become troubling enough that on February 3, the City's spending board voted unanimously to terminate Baltimore's contract with Ohio-based Persistent Surveillance Systems.