Missouri lawmakers move closer to approving state control over St. Louis Metropolitan Police

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KY3) – Missouri lawmakers are moving forward with efforts to put the St. Louis police force under state control.

Gov. Mike Kehoe said this would improve Missouri’s economy and reputation, but the city’s police chief is against the idea.

Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson said a bill to put the St. Louis Metropolitan Police under state control will likely be one of the first bills to be voted on. This comes after committees from both chambers approved similar bills this week.

Bills carried by Rep. Brad Christ and Sen. Nick Schroer would allow the state to take over the St. Louis Metropolitan Police this August. If passed, the Missouri Board of Police Commissioners will appoint four citizens to oversee the police department. The bills also outline salary minimums and staffing requirements with which the police force must comply.

St. Louis Democratic Rep. Marlon Anderson is not open to compromise. He does not approve of any version of state-controlled police. On the other side of the building, he may face a challenge from his party. Senate Democrats said last week that their caucus is split on the issue.

“This is one of the times where I say we’re better off the way it is right now,” State Rep. Anderson said. “Crime is down, the morale is coming up. So, we can look at our counterparts on the western part of the state, Kansas City, and their crime is trending up.”

If this bill passes, St. Louis and Kansas City would be the only two cities in Missouri where the mayor does not control the police force. According to FBI data, Kansas City’s crime rate has increased since it became state-controlled.

St. Louis Police was under state control until residents voted against it in 2012. It took the city about five years to regain its police force. St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy says the record should speak for itself since then.

“Everything they asked us to do we have met and made progress now you move the goalpost and now you start saying you don’t trust the crime numbers I stand by those crime numbers,” Tracy said in an in-studio interview with KMOV First Alert 4.

St. Louis city officials flaunted an 11-year record-low number of homicides earlier this month, but this isn’t enough for state leaders. This week, Gov. Mike Kehoe called for this change in his State of the State address.

“As the economic powerhouse of our state, we cannot continue to let crime kill growth in the region and drive businesses and families to move outside of our state’s borders,” Gov. Kehoe said in his address.

According to the Missouri Economic Research Center, St. Louis is responsible for 45% of Missouri’s economy. It’s also home to the state’s most popular tourism destination: the Gateway Arch.

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