One of the biggest current issues is the push for local control of the St. Louis Police. This was the topic of the poll last week:
Half were unsure if corruption would be more or less under local control but it should be addresses locally rather than at the Missouri capital in Jefferson City. If you ask the man on the street if citizens should have control over their own police force most would agree. So what is the holdup? The police themselves don’t want a new boss. The following in the full statement of the Saint Louis Police Officers Association (SLPOA):
ST. LOUIS POLICE OFFICER’S ASSOCIATION IS AGAINST
SB675, SB 643 AND HB1601
(LOCAL CONTROL OF THE ST. LOUIS POLICE DEPARTMENT)
Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis City politicians are not genuine in their attempt to gain control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD). They cite that the Police Department will be more accountable to the City of St. Louis, and that the City will be more financially sound, if the City takes control of the Police Department. However, the slanderous campaign organized by Mayor Slay, his political allies and his supporters is misleading and its purpose is to create a false sense of panic among the citizens that live and visit St. Louis, and sway STATE SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES.
- The Mayor is an Ex-Officio member of the Board of Police Commissioners. The mayor has input into every decision made. The remaining four members are prominent St. Louis City residents.
· St. Louis City government has direct fiscal oversight of the SLMPD; it sets the Police Department’s budget. In fact the City of St. Louis reduced the Police Department’s budget last year, which directly forced the Police Department to reduce manpower by over 100 officers.
· The hidden agenda of Mayor Slay, his political allies and his supporters is to gain control of the SLMPD Pension System. They claim the pension system, along with the Fire Department and Civil Service pension systems, will bankrupt the city. They claim that city employees do not contribute to the pension systems. While this is true for the Civil Service system, Firemen contribute 8% and Police Officers contribute 7% of their salaries. WE DO CONTRIBUTE. In fact it is quite apparent with the recent ballot initiatives filed, in essence by Mayor Slay, that their true intention is to obtain control of our pension system.
· Mayor Slay, his political allies and his supporters cannot answer our one simple question: “How will City control make the SLMPD a better department”? The fact is crime was reduced this past year and has decreased each of the last three years. St. Louis City politics will interfere with the day-to-day operation of the Police Department. The mayor, 28 alderpersons, and other appointed and elected officials, will have direct influence on the daily workings of the Police Officers.
· The structure of St. Louis City government has not adapted to the decrease in population of the City. The structure, which has been in place for over 100 years, continues to mandate the same number of Alderpersons today with roughly 350,000 residents as opposed to when this government was first formed with twice the population.
· St. Louis City government has grossly mismanaged most, if not all, departments under its control, as determined by State Auditor Susan Montee. The audits of The Department of Public Safety, The Streets Department, and Lambert International Airport, to name a few, all have serious monetary discrepancies and procedural inefficiencies.
· A financial analysis of the City of St. Louis conducted by PolicePay.net demonstrates the financial constraints of the City of St. Louis are caused by the poor fiscal management of Mayor Slay and City Politicians and not influenced by the SLMPD. The audit clearly shows that police protection for the City of St. Louis is not a priority of the Mayor. The audit cites:
“Police Expenditures, per capita, are up 12.45% during the last 13 years when adjusted for inflation. Total expenditures per capita have increased 52.91% over the last 13 years. Most of this growth is by design. It is not being caused by uncontrollable forces.”
“This is very rare, most cities since the 1990′s have spent more in terms of growth on public safety and police then all expenditures as a whole. St. Louis is the total opposite as all expenditures have increased at over 4 times the growth rate then Police expenditures. It is clear that the City of St. Louis has many other main priorities then Police Protection.”
· Local control of the St. Louis Police Department and the Police Retirement System will negatively impact the City’s ability to recruit and retain quality police personnel, as well as other City staff.
The members of the St. Louis Police Officers Association, and its retirees, ask that you please oppose any legislation relating to control of the Police Department or the Police Retirement System.
So what do we do? Nothing? I support both local control as well as protecting the officers’ pension. I fully agree with one of their observations above; “The structure of St. Louis City government has not adapted to the decrease in population of the City. The structure, which has been in place for over 100 years, continues to mandate the same number of Alderpersons today with roughly 350,000 residents as opposed to when this government was first formed with twice the population.” I don’t think the structure is over 100 years old but their point is valid. They don’t want to be managed by the current city government. Any bills before the state legislature to return control of the police to St. Louis should be tied to charter reform. We need to do both — revise our outmoded municipal government and control the police from within our city limits.
