Excerpt:
It has taken nearly a decade for St. Louis’ Civilian Oversight Board to find the footing needed to effectively investigate police misconduct and give residents the tools to hold police accountable, says board member Keith Rose. The city established the board in the years following the Black Lives Matter protests in nearby Ferguson, where grassroots organizers amplified calls to end police violence. But the board faced obstacles at every turn, from legal battles with police unions to the police department’s refusal to cooperate with investigations.
“It feels like we only just now got to the place where we have a path to do the work, after delays from lawsuits and police noncooperation. It finally feels like the board is ready to do the work,” Rose told Bolts.
But the state of Missouri is poised to wreck community oversight over policing in St. Louis. Governor Mike Kehoe on Wednesday signed a bill that ends the city’s ability to run its own police department, transferring control to the GOP-run state government. Going forward, the department will be led by a board mostly appointed by the Republican governor. The new law, which passed with the support of police unions, also requires St. Louis to commit 25 percent of its budget to policing by 2028.
“In order to prevent additional oversight, the police union has decided to go out and find representatives that do not represent the people of St. Louis and ask them to take over,” Rose said. “No reform is palatable enough for the police unions.”
There is a dark precedent for Missouri state officials seizing control of law enforcement in this city. On the eve of the Civil War, a secessionist governor took over the local police, worried that the city may otherwise resist his hopes of having Missouri join the Confederacy. He proceeded to pack the new state-run board with secessionist members, according to Chris Gordon, a historian with the Missouri Historical Society.
This state control then remained in place for well over 150 years. Only in 2012 did 64 percent of Missourians approve a measure to let St. Louis, which has a large Black population, run its own police force. The new law overrides that reform, returning control to the state leadership, which is largely white.
Abolish the police?
So they’ll take responsibility for crime in St Louis, right? Right?
Cities are running rampant with crime because of the Democrats.
- Republicans
Time for locals to create their own ‘constitutional sheriff’s’ movement.
What the fuck? How the hell is that constitutional?
Basically local authority is devolved from regional authority. And they claimed it back. Constitution has nothing to say here really. What it is, though, is a shady as fuck political power play. And if you don’t like this shit, stop electing fuckwads.
Constitution has nothing to say here really.
Fair enough, but it sure as hell should. How are the people of St. Louis not literally up in arms over this?
Because the precedent that this is based on is the Mob’s capture of the Kansas City police in the last 20s, and the people who would be against this aren’t going to go to bat for the cops.
the cops wanted this, because it will remove new local accountability and oversight. the state won’t give a shit what they (the cops) do.
meanwhile, the city is forced to increase the police department budget and maintain funding at a high level, based on percent of budget. this effectively jacks the costs up on any local initiative or project or service the city wants to or needs to do: want to direct $5 million of city funds to a literacy campaign? gotta give the cops another $1m+, too
Yeah, this is pretty much intend to destroy St. Louis as a city and remove Missouri’s last relevance on the national stage.
