JEFFERSON CITY — ºüÀêÊÓƵ police Chief Robert Tracy returned to the capital city Wednesday to again testify against a proposal to end local control of a police department he’s been running for less than two years.
The legislation would place the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Metropolitan Police Department under the oversight of a five-member board of police commissioners consisting of the city’s mayor and four appointees of the governor — an arrangement that was previously in effect until a statewide referendum in 2012 when Missouri voters ended 150 years of state control.
People are also reading…
“I would not have taken this job if I thought I couldn’t do this job, and there would be politics that would prevent me from doing the job that needed to be done,†Tracy said.
Tracy reports to ºüÀêÊÓƵ Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.
“There’s no question that we have a crisis in ºüÀêÊÓƵ,†said bill sponsor Rep. Brad Christ, R-south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County. “The public safety crisis is a mess. The police are hurting. We’re down to one of our lowest counts of police officers ever. It’s dangerous for them. It’s dangerous for the citizens.â€
Like last year, lawmakers have put forward state control of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ police department as a way to reduce the influence of politics on policing, address crime, and stem the tide of officers leaving the department.
“As of today, SLMPD is 353 officers short. We have nearly 270 officers eligible to retire. So that’s a terrifying thought and a cliff that could actually be a major problem,†said Jane Dueker, a lobbyist for the city’s police union.
The department is facing its lowest staffing levels on record.
Tracy told the committee that in talking with other police chiefs around the country, the number of police officers and recruitment is “the No. 1 issue.â€
“We’re all in a crisis,†Tracy said. “I’m not sure state control is going to help with that — bringing people into this profession.â€
The ºüÀêÊÓƵ region makes up half of the state’s economy, said committee chair Sen. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit. “As ºüÀêÊÓƵ goes, the state goes.â€
The overarching concern, Fitzwater said, is that ºüÀêÊÓƵ is a “struggling, dying city†from which residents and businesses are fleeing.
“Without some significant change, that failure flywheel is continuing to kind of spin faster and faster,†Fitzwater said.
Sen. Nick Schroer, a St. Charles County Republican who last year pushed for the measure, asked Tracy how he makes sense of the fact that both the Ethical Society of Police and the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Police Officers Association support a return to state control. ESOP is an association largely representing Black officers; SLPOA is the police union.
“How do you explain two groups that have historically never agreed on a darn thing, are both 100% in line with this bill?†Schroer asked.
Tracy replied: “We’re in a different time. We are in a whole different time. And I think people are trying to get back to a time that is gone. We’ve gone through Ferguson. We’ve gone through Stockley riots. We’ve gone through the pandemic. And we went through civil unrest after George Floyd.â€
He added: “I disagree with them. But I can understand where they’re coming from. And I have a very good relationship with both those organizations, and I’m gonna continue to work whether we disagree or not.â€
This legislation is Hous