The last time Missouri took control of the St. Louis police, was just before the civil war, when the leaders who were leaning against the state tried to prevent police from taking weapons against the confederation.
The law, which put the police department under the control of the state, has been in force over the next 152 years. In November 2012 almost two -thirds of the voters approved a nationwide voting measure pushed by police activists and elected officials who resumed local power and posted the mayor’s jurisdiction department.
Now the State Governor of the Republicans and the legislative body led by Goop again push the Saint Louis Police Department. They claim that the city government of democratic liability is responsible for the fall of the officer’s moral state and that statistics showing a decrease in crime are inaccurate.
Missouri’s house Last week voted 106-47 Transfer control from the city to the state board this summer. The Pentecut Council will consist of the mayor and four commissioners appointed by the governor, essentially leaving the governor to control in the police department.
The State Senate is discussing this measure, but the vote is not yet planned.
Attempting to change the measure of predominantly approved by state voters, albeit more than a decade ago, is part of the broader scheme of the government managed by Missouri Conservative cancel the will of the electorate, from canceling reform rethinking voters to attempt attempt restore the abortion ban Despite the fact that voters approved the amendment to the Constitution last year, the legalization of the procedure.
State absorptions of capital police departments are rare; Kansas -Sity, Missouri, remains the only major American city with police forces under state control. His arrangement Reconstruction datesWhen Missouri’s legislators, trying to limit the black political influence, deprived the city of its surveillance.
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After a brief return to local control in the 1930s, the state resumed the powers over Kansas -Siti police to weaken the political boss Tom Pendergasta, which used the Department for patronage and election fraud.
Baltimor Recently resumed control The police department after 160 years of state control.
States under the leadership of Republicans took control of other aspects of the government from local leaders in other cities with most black populations. In Mississippi, officials have expanded the jurisdiction State Police Capitol Outside state buildings in residential and commercial areas in Jackson, the state capital. They also set up a state court with appointed judges and increased police funding, while Jackson’s police department led by Jackson tried to answer calls.
Texas and Missour Local schools and city governments intervened, which led to local control disputes – although these absorptions were usually temporary, with the restoration of local authorities. In TennisThe state controller refused to take over the majority of the black city of Mason after local officials agreed that the certified state registration or law firm would help the city complete the audit, balance their budget and teach officials on the proper use of tax revenues. It happens in the States led by the DemocratsAlso, but less often.
“It really removes this political power from the residents, allowing them to have less authority, supervision and voice in how their public security and law enforcement system works,” said Sandha Caigiet, senior researcher at the Turgud Marshal Naacp Foundation.
Some St. Louis leaders see the current efforts there as the 19th century efforts to restrict black political power. They claim that most white, conservative government moves to the lane of local officials again and reduces the influence of black on the police.
Karl May Senator, Black Democrat from St. Louis, who testified against the pressure on the state control, said it was no coincidence that the plan became an urgent issue for the legislators and moved during Tishaur Jones, who is also black.
May said the Saint -Louis Police Association, a collective advantageous unit for city police officers, “does not want to manage the African mayor.” The Union’s representatives did not respond to a comment request.
Johns’s press -secretary did not make her available for interview. But the mayor said in an email statement that “I do not think that republican lawmakers want to give a black woman who is also a democratic merit for a sharp decline in crimes, increasing the payment of officers and the creation of successful public safety programs.” She said that supporters of state control never explained how to improve public safety.
Pressing to take control of the police Saint Louis is the top priority for Governor Mike Keho, a recently elected Republican whose state of states Designed this issue in economic terms. He said it matters whether the businesses feel “safe enough to invest in our cities.” Keho, which is white, often addresses his upbringing in St. Louis to push state control.
The sponsor of the house, the representative of Brad Christ, the White Republican from the South -Western suburb of Saint Louis, claims that his proposal to “state control” is misleading because the governor had to live in the city for at least three years.
He noted that efforts to return the police to the state was preceded by Jones’s term as mayor. Black Democrat with Sta -Louis filed a similar bill This stopped at the House in 2019 during the Mayor of Lida Kreuson, which is white. In the text, Christ said that it was “a clear testimony to the fact that the wild statement was that these efforts were motivated by the race completely false.”
Ethical Police Society, Group representing black police officers in St. Louis Supports the state’s absorption. His president, Donnel Walters, wrote in 2023 from the then secretary of state Jay Ashkroft, Republican, Call to State Control And claiming that mismanagement and low morale under the control of the city.
Walters did not return messages looking for comments.
Heather Taylor, a retired sergeant who led ESOP from 2015 to 2020 – and later worked at the Jones administration earlier retired in 2023 After criticizing the mayor and a department on social media, she said that the department would suffer under the control of the state. But, she said, ESOP members believe that the city lacks urgency of main support for officers and that the state can do better work by solving these needs.
Jones repeatedly pointed to crimes in the city indicating a decline because it hired Robert Treis as Chief of Police Two years ago. In particular, the results of the city’s murder fell.
But many claim that the city’s statistics on other types of crimes do not reflect the sense of lawlessness in St. Louis. Ness Sandoval, Professor of Sociology and Demographics at Saint -Louis University, who studies the trend of crime, said he believes that there is insufficient crime report and has no transparency. “Most people who count on the data believe that there should probably be asterisk,” he said. Jones stood behind the crimes numbers, saying they were accurate.
However, the mayor and her police chief support this state control does not necessarily reduce crime. In 2012, while the police were still under state supervision, the Forbes magazine occupied St. Louis to the other city in the country.
Kansas -Sity, which is still under the control of the state, continues to fight a violent crime. Efforts to restore local supervision have never gained great attraction. Despite past research and proposals, including the 1968 report, which lists local control as a higher recommendation after the police killed six black residents during the riots, and in 2013 the mayor voted for local control, which failed the only vote – a serious impetus failed.
