ST. LOUIS • Don’t expect big changes in city police operations any time soon.
On Tuesday, Missouri residents overwhelmingly voted to return control of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Police Department to city leaders.
Now comes the hard work — signing drawers of paperwork, organizing months of meetings, coordinating pages of policies, and making the switch happen.
“Right now, what we really want is a nice, orderly transition,†said Jeff Rainford, Mayor Francis Slay’s chief of staff. “That’s a bit tedious. It will require an attention to detail.â€
City leaders, Rainford said, won’t be making any major changes to department operations until they’re certain the administration is running smoothly under city direction.
Police officers, meanwhile, were approaching Sgt. David Bonenberger, president of the Police Officer’s Association, to express their disappointment.
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“People are saying, ‘Is this really it? Isn’t there anything the governor can do?’†Bonenberger said. “And my answer is, ‘No, there is not.’ Everything is in limbo. There is no direction, no indication of how anything is going to be run and how things are going to be handled.â€
Bonenberger also questioned the fate of civilian employees, the “support system,†he said, for officers.
“Where’s the guarantee that people will keep the same pay rate in a given job?†Bonenberger asked.
The Police Department is currently run by a state board, made up of the city mayor plus four members appointed by the governor. The setup is a vestige of the Civil War.
Gov. Claiborne Jackson and pro-Southern members of the state Legislature wanted to contain the Union-leaning city police department, and seized upon a reform measure other U.S. cities had adopted to combat political scandals. Jackson signed the bill creating the new board in 1861, and then quickly appointed four like-minded commissioners.
City leaders have worked for years for local control, but could never get support in the state Legislature. This year, they moved to bring it straight to voters.
The measure was backed by Slay, financed by billionaire philanthropist Rex Sinquefield and supported by hundreds of officials across the city and the state.
It won Tuesday with 1.6 million votes, nearly double the number against it. The new law now spells out the transition.
First, the Board of Aldermen must pass a city ordinance accepting “responsibility, ownership and liability†for police contracts, property and business.
Then the city will form a five-member transition committee, appointed by Slay, to coordinate the switch and wrap-up the state board’s affairs. The committee will include two members of a statewide police union, one current or former police board commissioner, and the police chief.
The personnel affairs of the new department will be governed by the city’s civil service rules.
But the new law generally holds benefits intact — insurance, pensions, shift pay, and residency requirements.
And it also requires the city to employ all current officers and civilian workers, “without a reduction in rank, salary or benefits.â€
Public Safety Director Eddie Roth, the boss of the police chief after the transition, said city and police staffs have been meeting for months in preparation. They’ve discussed personnel, professional standards, facilities, fleet services, purchasing and legal work, he said.
“This is about — for the first time since the Civil War — building an integrated department of public safety, where police, fire and emergency services work together without having to say, ‘Mother, may I?’†Roth said.
The law gives the city seven months to prepare. It cannot take control of the force before July 1.
At a meeting of police commissioners Wednesday morning, board President Col. Richard Gray congratulated Slay and committed to working through the transition.
“Although the governor appoints all of the individuals on this board, we are all from ºüÀêÊÓƵ and our goal is to protect the interests of ºüÀêÊÓƵ,†he said. “We will remain committed to putting our best foot forward.â€