The state of Missouri controlled the St. Louis Police Department for more than 150 years – until the state’s voters returned control to the city in 2013. A Missouri House committee is deciding whether to advance a bill that would return control to the state.

Rep. Brad Christ, R-St. Louis, is sponsoring the bill that would shift local control of the police department to a state-appointed board.

“No one’s being fooled by these PR campaigns that crime is down,” Christ said during a committee hearing. “Multiple crimes are counted as one. They bulk them together like you’re buying toilet paper at Costco. They have justifiable homicides. Some crimes aren’t even reported.”

The Kansas City Police Department is currently the only Missouri city with a state-appointed board.

Rep. Jaclyn Zimmerman, D-Manchester, questioned Christ about his proposal.

“How do you think that this is going to improve crime in St Louis,” she asked. “Like, who are these magical people that are going to come in and be appointed that are going to clean up the streets? I mean, it’s obviously not working in Kansas City.”

“On day one, morale will be boosted insanely, and I think we’ll see more recruits,” said Christ.

During the committee hearing, there were a few disagreements over which crime statistics are accurate and which ones are not. Other differences of opinion were about the level of city funding going to police enforcement measures.

Rep. Brandon Phelps, R-Warrensburg, supports the House bill.

“This bill aims to fix the status quo, and the status quo is pretty simple. We don’t need to know statistics to know if we feel safe or not. St Louis has a pretty good reputation around the state. The reputation is, don’t go there. Crime is terrible,” said Phelps.

St. Louis NAACP President Adolphus Pruitt

Adolphus Pruitt, president of the St. Louis NAACP, opposes the bill.

“People all over this state and in our city who feels it’s unsafe to go to some a number of parts of the state of Missouri because of their race. But I can assure you, a lot of people look like me feel unsafe when we go there, and we’re not asking anybody to introduce any bills to change how law enforcement acts in your area,” said Pruitt.

Rep. Jeff Myers, R-Warrenton, questioned St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones about her position that crime is down in her city.

“You stated that crime stats and things are falling,” said Myers. “Is it your contention that crime in the city of St Louis is at an acceptable level?”

“No, one life lost to gun violence is one too many and we will continue to work to bring down our numbers even further,” said Jones.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones

“What are some of the sources of that that are going on? Some of us believe that guns are inanimate objects and it’s the people that work them that make them the problem,” said Myers.

“Most of our crime is interpersonal. Someone starts a beef with someone on the internet, on Facebook or social media, and they don’t handle that in the right way. Nowadays, everybody can get access to a gun and take it out in that way,” said Jones.

The mayor said .1% of the St. Louis population is responsible for most of the crime in the city. She said the statistics lead to the demographic being a 31-year-old Black male.

The Missouri House Crime and Public Safety Committee could vote on the bill soon.

For more information about House Bill 495, click here.

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