Citizens of Springfield, Missouri showed up to a city council meeting to discuss the city’s Flock contract. The mayor shut them down and arrested two people for ‘disruption of meetings of city council.’

Mia Hyder had never attended a public meeting before when she showed up to the city council meeting in Springfield, Missouri. After briefly speaking at a podium during a public comment period, she was arrested and dragged away in handcuffs.

“Hello, my name is Mylie Hyder. I’m a Springfield, Missouri constituent, and I’m here to oppose the usage of ALPR cameras, most commonly made by Flock Safety. These cameras are not just surveillance,” Hyder started.

“I’m sorry ma’am,” Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag said. Her mic was cut. A cop approached her at the podium.

Hyder held up both of her middle fingers while continuing to speak: “They are an invasion of our privacy,” she said.

The cop said, “You’re under arrest,” grabbed her arms, and pulled her out of the room. “I can do this all night. I get paid by the hour,” the cop added.

  • velma@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    15 hours ago

    Dozens of people showed up to the Springfield City Council Meeting on September 22 with plans to let city leaders know how they felt about the city’s use of automated license plate readers. There was a resolution before the council that would trigger a review of the controversial camera systems, but Schrag moved to send the resolution to committee and prevent public comment on the issue.

    The move passed 5 - 3, the crowd shouted at city leaders, and Schrag ordered citizens to clear the room and shut off cameras recording the event. As people left, police detained and ticketed Noah Powell. Later in the evening Mia Hyder tried to speak out about Flock during public comments about a housing issue. Police arrested her while Schrag looked on. “Sorry ma’m,” the mayor said as police led Hyder away in handcuffs.

    Springfield has 41 Flock cameras, according to the Flock Transparency Portal. City councilor Brandon Jenson had proposed a resolution to “conduct a comprehensive review of all relevant contracts” related to the ALPR cameras. The council was set to vote on Jensons’ proposed review on Monday and hear comments from the community. But when the resolution came up during the meeting, Mayor Schrag immediately pushed to send it to a committee and avoid public comment.

    Jenson spoke before the vote to push the resolution to a committee. “All I’m trying to do is get people answers to some real questions that they’ve brought to us for months. And it’s a shame that it comes to this sort of, I guess, theater that I’m a part of to try to get those answers,” he said. “This isn’t how government is supposed to run. It’s just disappointing. And we’re not even allowing folks to speak who clearly came out to share their voices tonight.”

    Shame on Schrag. Shame on the council members that moved to silence these residents.

    • OwOarchist@pawb.socialEnglish
      0·
      12 hours ago

      Does it even hurt them that much to allow public comment? They can just ignore the comments. But they’d rather arrest people than even do that.

      • Brave Little Hitachi Wand@feddit.ukEnglish
        0·
        10 hours ago

        To me this is naked fascism, as obscenely bold as Priapus. This is not merely “disappointing”, this is the moment you would use in a children’s film to make sure even a four year old gets that the mayor is evil. When people do this, you’re supposed to fight them as a matter of course. It’s like taking a shit, either you do it or you explode.