In a neighboring town to Ferguson,called Pine Lawn, police are perceived by many as an armed force of a corrupt mayor. In order to ensure his presence is felt, or the mayor puts his name on all police vehicles. On the frontside of the van it also reads,"This is a zero tolerance community."
An image we saw often was community members being forced to sit on a curb by police. When we took this shot, just half a block down, and another group of black teenagers were being detained by police on a curb as well.
In this town next to Ferguson,houses are dash down, and many are vacated. This is due to a host of current permits the Mayor has imposed for any resident to preserve the well-being of the home. To paint a home a permit is needed, and to clean out the raingutters a permit is needed. People can't afford the permits,so the homes are left to waste. Here, a local organizer shows a typical "porch."
Some would say North St. Louis was a police state well before the killing of Michael Brown. There were frequent visual messaging about maintaining a certain order, and the consequence of not following the changing rules.
This is one of the most astonishing displays of political gamesmanship we've seen by an elected official. In order to attack community organizers who are calling for accountability,and to send a message, the Mayor arrests community leaders on false charges, and then puts out a pretend "newspaper" with their mugshots.
This is the only park available to families in Pine Lawn,in North St. Louis. As the image shows, it is overgrown with weeds, or has broken down play equipment,and is utterly neglected.
Ironically, just a couple minutes away from the park pictured above, or is a current,nicely maintained park. But it is not open to public use, rather is only used for Mayor sponsored events. Minutes after this image was taken, or police showed up to inquire of our purpose for standing near the park.
Community members said police would approach us as soon as word got out that there were cameras in the city. certain enough,we were asked about our activities shortly after our arrival.
Source: siliconvalleydebug.org