Updated at 11:55 a.m. Jan. 12 with the end of SMS Novel’s beta-test plan in Gravois Park
Filmmaking company SMS Novel announced on X on Friday that it won’t launch a crime-surveillance drone beta test in St. Louis. In the company’s response to a cease-and-desist letter from the City of St. Louis, it wrote that drones will operate in another neighborhood at a later date. Residents of Gravois Park said they’re “breathing a sigh of relief this morning.” They’re still working to prevent the company from obtaining a business license and to increase drone regulation. SMS Novel declined to comment further.
Sms Novel is withdrawing our planned Drone Security Beta Test of Gravois Park in #STL
— SMS Interactive (@SmsNovel) January 12, 2024
We wish the best to the community. @stltoday @KMOV
Original story from Jan. 12
Residents of the Gravois Park neighborhood in St. Louis are outraged that a religious filmmaking company is flying drones over the area and planning to expand its operation later this month to capture security footage.
SMS Novel, of Washington, D.C., plans to livestream footage of Gravois Park from Jan. 29 to Feb. 13 when it does more testing. Its founder has said he aims to detect and deter crime.
Residents are upset that the drones would be conducting surveillance over their homes and have asked city officials to stop the company.
“We don't want it, nobody wants it,” Jake Lyonfields said. “We can have well-intentioned conversations about public safety, but in this particular situation, nobody's for it.”
Earlier this week, the city sent SMS Novel a cease-and-desist order and told the company it would need to obtain city permits to fly drones over public roads, sidewalks and parks — and obtain $1 million in liability insurance. The company’s founder vows to launch the drones anyway.
“Our operators have been in St. Louis for close to two months now,” Jomo Johnson said in an audio message to the Gravois Park Neighborhood Association. “You haven't noticed anything, I don't believe, and it will be the same way when we're doing the beta testing.”
The company chose St. Louis, Memphis and Los Angeles for its surveillance program. Johnson said that he will provide a free livestream of the flight from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and that the drones have technology that will “prevent, detect and we believe deflect potential criminal activities in real time.”
A St. Louis police officer told residents Monday that felony thefts, burglaries and aggravated assaults are a growing problem in Gravois Park.
Lyonfields, who has lived in the area since 2016, said he’s gathered more than 100 signatures from residents who are opposed to the drones.
“Not one person that we spoke with was in favor of a private, for-profit drone surveillance scheme in Gravois Park,” he said.
The city will insist that Johnson obtain the necessary approvals, said Jared Boyd, chief of staff for Mayor Tishaura Jones.
“He has not obtained the proper city permits to operate in St. Louis. To do something as novel as this will require the approval of our Board of Public Service,” Boyd said, “We stand willing and ready to enforce that cease-and-desist order, whether it's using it for beta testing now, or when he purportedly goes live later this month.”
In response to the residents’ concerns, St. Louis Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier plans to introduce a bill Friday that would restrict drone flights over public parks, streets and sidewalks.
“It makes it so that if you want to put a drone over a city event, you have to get permission from the operators of that city event,” Sonnier said. “Also, it makes it so that you can't operate in a no-fly zone, which this legislation creates.”
