By Celeste Bott
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — Putting limits on when police officers can use chemical agents or order crowds to disperse would help protect demonstrators’ First Amendment rights, supporters of a bill filed this week argue.
The plan, filed by 15th Ward Alderman Megan Green, would repeal St. Louis’ existing ordinance on unlawful assemblies, which she argues is too vague and gives officers a wide berth to declare a demonstration unlawful.
It has become an issue in recent weeks because of protests over the Jason Stockley verdict, and Green said the changes would help protect participants in future demonstrations.
“One of the issues right now is, how do you hold police accountable to an unlawful assembly ordinance where no one really understands what it means?” Green said in an interview Tuesday.
Green’s bill says people and groups in the city have the right to participate in assemblies “on the streets, sidewalks, and other public ways, and in the parks in the city, and to engage in assemblies near the object of their protest so they may be seen and heard, subject to reasonable restrictions designed to protect public safety, persons, and property, and to accommodate the interest of persons not participating in the assemblies to use the streets, sidewalks, and other public ways.”
Green said she drafted the language with the ACLU of Missouri, which is suing the city over the police response during the first week of protests against the Stockley verdict.
“St. Louis needs to establish clear guidelines to protect people as they call for change in the region,” said Sara Baker, legislative and policy director at the ACLU of Missouri. “Without establishing clear guidelines for law enforcement, we risk creating a chilling atmosphere during a critical time where the voices of the people must be heard.”
The proposal reflects a number of grievances voiced by demonstrators protesting the acquittal of Stockley, a former police officer who is white, for the 2011 fatal shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith, a black drug suspect. The verdict has spurred protests throughout the city and complaints of excessive force being used by law enforcement tasked with containing the unrest.
The bill requires officers “to the extent reasonably possible” arrest specific individuals who are responding with violence, rather than issuing general orders to disperse.
Under the measure, the St. Louis Police Department can issue orders to disperse only if “a significant number or percentage of the assembly participants” fail to adhere to certain restrictions, engage in violence or destroy property, or if the mayor declares a public safety emergency.
It also requires police to issue at least one order to disperse — and multiple orders if possible — using an amplification system reaching 40 feet away, giving participants “reasonable and adequate” time to disperse and a safe and clear route for dispersal. At least one order would also be required before deploying chemical agents.
Officers would not be able to use chemical agents on protesters or groups who fail to disperse, only on individuals who have “caused or attempted to cause serious physical injury to another person.” Pepper spray and other agents could not be used on individuals who are already restrained.
Additionally, the bill would require all officers to have their name tags visible at all times and mandate that the department promptly process and release anyone who was arrested during an event.
Green says her bill would make it easier for residents to hold police accountable if their constitutional rights are violated.
“Once we get these laws in place, it would make it easier for a lawsuit to be waged against the city if they’re broken,” Green said.
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and Interim Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole recently called for an independent investigation into how city police have responded to demonstrations in the days following the verdict.
Particularly controversial is the officers’ recent use of a technique called “kettling,” which was used to box in 100 people — including a Post-Dispatch reporter, an Air Force lieutenant who wasn’t participating and an undercover cop — at a busy downtown intersection and arrest them for failing to disperse.
Police say they are reviewing that incident.
Even if the measure is passed, Green said, more criminal justice reforms will still be needed.
“This is just a starting point of getting an actual First Amendment policy in place for the city of St. Louis,” Green said, adding that she and the ACLU used a similar ordinance in Washington, D.C., as a guide. “But we can at least start to implement some of that, and make a commitment as a city to respect the rights of protester in the streets.”
©2017 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch