Last week, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted to enact an ordinance that would make it illegal to have a certain size speaker installed in a car. If this law were signed by Mayor Francis Slay, the police would have the power to impound any car that violated the law.
According to 2nd Ward Alderman Dionne Flowers, one of the aldermen who voted for the bill, the noise from cars with these oversized and loud speakers have “knocked her out of her bed.”
Give me a break. There is no need for this law. If a citizen believes that someone is playing his or her music too loud in any situation, the current law against disturbing the peace gives the police broad discretion to respond.
Notwithstanding the fact that this law is not aimed specifically at black people, it will give police another reason to stop people for DWB, driving while black. And how will the police enforce the law? Will drivers of cars on Highway 40 passing through St. Louis be stopped? The EYE thinks not.
This gross encroachment on individual rights will only create new potential for police abuse of their discretionary powers.
The EYE hopes that Mayor Slay, who is a lawyer, will use common sense and veto this unneeded legislation.