Sunshine Requests for Vehicle Stop Databases showing racial disparities in Missouri denied. Lawsuit Filed.
November 13, 2019
Today a member of GRAM has filed lawsuits against the City of St. Louis (SLMPD), St. Louis County (County PD), Webster Groves (WGPD), and University City (U City PD), to obtain their Vehicle Stop Databases. We have also filed suit against REJIS to obtain the databases for other law enforcement agencies across the state. These databases are kept in accordance with Missouri Statute 590.650 and are used by the agencies to create annual reports on racial disparities in vehicle stops and searches. Law Enforcement Agencies have been submitting these reports to the Attorney General since the year 2000 when it was signed into law.
Although the Attorney General has been collecting and publishing summaries of agency data on racial disparities in traffic stops and post-stop activity, the transparency has not resulted in any decrease in the racial disparities seen in traffic stops. In fact in the last two years, 2017 and 2018, Missouri has recorded the highest disparity in vehicle stops between black motorists and white motorists in its recorded history. GRAM contends that the agency databases are open records that need to be scrutinized to better understand the policing practices that are leading to the present disparities.
It is GRAM’s position that meaningful and effective changes and reform in legislation are only possible when people, community organizers, and legislators fully comprehend and understand the issues. Too often legislators are not privileged to information necessary to understand not only how their government is functioning but what is happening in their communities. Withholding governmental records from the public is a disservice not only to the public but to the legislators who are elected to be effective law makers for our society.
In the last two decades, citizen data previously considered private and/or unavailable to the surveillance arms of the government and businesses, have been mined, shared, and sold. At the same time, the government itself is resistant and defiant in releasing meaningful information necessary for governmental transparency and accountability..
GRAM is very thankful for the excellent legal representation provided by Amy Breihan and Megan Crane of the MacArthur Justice Center and Larry Mass; their acquaintance and legal expertise has always been appreciated. GRAM is also appreciative of the talents and skills of Andrew Arkills and Tyler Schlickenmeyer in data, databases, mapping, and everything they bring to the table.