St. Louis alderman Brandon Bosley wants Governor Mike Parson to send Missouri National Guard soldiers to his city to fight crime. Parson tells Missourinet affiliate KSSZ in Columbia that’s not going to happen.
“I’ve had the pleasure of serving in the military as a military policeman in my career and also on the law enforcement side for 22 years. Those are two totally different functions of government,” he says. “I get the frustration, but that’s not the function of the (National) Guard.”
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Bosley says his strategy is partially motivated because of a large shortage of St. Louis police officers. Bosley goes on to say we are not in Afghanistan and the level of violent crime there is not normal.
“At the end of the day, they’ve got to figure out some solutions up there in their own neighborhoods. We’re here to assist wherever we can but we can’t take over the law enforcement jobs in St. Louis,” says Parson.
During a press conference this week in St. Louis about violent crime, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said Bosley rightly points out that something must be done but Schmitt says the decision is up to the governor. In January, Schmitt launched a collaboration between his office and Missouri’s U.S. Attorney’s Offices to prosecute more violent crime cases. On Thursday, five Assistant U.S. Attorneys were sworn into office to help with the heavy caseload in the St. Louis region.
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