St. Louis City Hall Foiled Once Again in Attempt to Control Police Department

It was not a black cat that crossed St. Louis City Hall's path on Friday the 13th of May, 2011, but rather the Missouri State Legislature. This was supposed to be the year that City Hall gained local control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for the time since its officially recognized inception in 1861.

The State of Missouri, through state statutes, controlled the St. Louis Police Department removing local politics and favoritism from the table. The Governor appointed a Board of Commissioners with four members to oversee the day-to-day operation of the Department. The State Legislature set the operating budget and pay scales, which the City of St. Louis had to pay with no say so in the issues.



For decade upon decade City Hall fought to gain local control only to be stymied by the Police Board and the lobbying efforts of the St. Louis Police Officers' Association (SLPOA) - the unofficial bargaining agent for the rank and file members of the Department. The City, on the one hand, wanted control of the Department's budget, since it had to pay. The SLPOA feared that local control would not only bring more political interference into the arena , but more importantly that the highly solvent Police Pension System might be ransacked if City Hall gained control.



In mid-April Mayor Francis Slay and the SLPOA reached an agreement on the local control issue. The new bill to be introduced in the legislature would permit collective bargaining rights for officers -first time ever- and allow current officers to retain salary and pension benefits. Residency requirements would be determined by date of service. The police board would be disbanded and the department would become a City Department. Furthermore, any elected official interfering in police operations would be subject to a fine and loss of office. Disciplinary hearings would be subject to police rules, however the actual hearings would be held by the Civil Service Commission as is the case for all city employees.



Now it was up to the legislature to pass this historic bill, but political infighting caused its death. The local control bill was passed by the Missouri House and sent to Senate for its approval. The Senate wanted the House to make changes on another totally unrelated piece of legislation dealing with tax incentives and Senate members intimated that they would sit on the local control bill unless the changes were made. The local control bill was now held hostage in the Senate, not through lobbying efforts by the City of St. Louis or the Police Officers' Association, but by legislators attempting to bluff the other side for what they deemed important. Neither side blinked an eye nor gave an inch and when the 6:00 P.M. deadline for adjournment of the current session rolled around on Friday the 13th of May, 2011 the local control bill died without a vote.



Everyone will have to wait another year to see the outcome. Hopefully City Hall and the SLPOA will remain on amicable terms and keep firm the agreement to resolve the issue of local control.

Sources:
www.stltoday.com
www.slmpd.org
www.slpoa.org