Jefferson City, MO — The Missouri House of Representatives today passed House Bill 495 to remove the St. Louis Police Department from the control of the City of St. Louis and place it under the authority of a state-controlled Board of Police Commissioners, effectively eliminating local community oversight.

Missouri Jobs with Justice alongside Action St. Louis Power Project and the Organization for Black Struggle (OBS) had this to say in response:

“We are extremely disappointed that the Missouri Legislature has voted to send legislation to strip local control of the St. Louis Police Department to Governor Mike Kehoe’s desk — and with an emergency clause enabling the bill to immediately become law without public input and outrage. If this bill becomes law, it will inevitably exacerbate inequality in St. Louis—disproportionately increasing police power without local oversight in marginalized communities and implementing harsher penalties for minor offenses. Local control of police is a tool of civil rights reform deeply rooted in the community’s desire for accountability and a more sensitive approach to policing over their own community.

Putting the SLPMD under state control jeopardizes community safety, public accountability, and democratic processes. It’s a gross misuse of power to undermine the 2012 statewide referendum in which Missourians voted to overturn this Civil War-era arrangement of state control. Here we have an attempt by state officials to bypass standard political processes to force the state into submission, and yet another example of government overreach that hugely affects our lives and communities without our consent. The state should allow local elected officials accountable to
the community that they serve to continue working diligently to address concerns, instead of militarizing a state-appointed board.”