Opinion: Who will have the real 'hands-on' approach to city crime?

In its recent editorial in opposition to returning control to the state, entitled "Hands off St. Louis Police, Missouri," the Post-Dispatch Editorial Board recalls "the good old days when the GOP called itself the party of 'local control' and respected the will of the people."

For Republicans like us, those were the "bad old days" when the Democratic Party held majorities in the state Legislature all but four of the previous 70-plus years before 2002. During that time, even the Democrats believed the city police should stay under state control.

Democratic senators from the city thought there was plenty of "local control," due to the Senate's long tradition of "Senatorial Courtesy," under which the governor's appointees to the Police Commission had to have the support of their state senator before they could be approved by the Senate. Knowing this, as a St. Charles County official, Steve Ehlmann testified for a bill several years ago to allow then-Mayor Francis Slay, rather than the senators from the city, to exercise the local control.

While the editorial board claims that the "data is clear," it is not, and that makes it hard to have an intelligent debate. They claim the city "managed to tamp down homicides to their lowest rate in a decade last year. Kansas City — despite the supposed panacea of state control of its police — logged a record high murder rate." In fact, the murder rate in the city was 38 per 100,000 population in 2013, while it was 56 in 2023. [Editor's note: The editorial in question originally conflated the murder rate with the total number of murders. The error has been corrected.]

While the editorial points out the city's crime problem "is hardly unique among urban centers," this year, while the homicides have declined nationally by 17.9%, they have only declined 7.2% in the city of St. Louis. Up the Missouri River, they have declined 17.8% in Kansas City, while down the Mississippi, New Orleans saw a decline of 40.7%.

We agree with the editorial board that "the solution is for the city to clean its own house." Do they think Gov-elect Mike Kehoe really wants to have to deal with this? Do they think Attorney General Andrew Bailey really wants to again defend the police department in court or that the legislators want the state treasury to again be liable for any damages a city jury may award?

While the editorial board, business community, regional elected officials and many city residents have been calling for the city to act, and after three years debating the proposal in the legislature, the city has not yet cleaned house.

What else can Missouri elected office holders do when one of its political subdivisions, has a problem that is affecting the entire region and state?

The editorial claims, "police are helpless to confront gun violence until the bullets are flying," and suggests the legislature should reinstate conceal-carry permit requirements. Down 300 police officers, who is going to enforce it in the city? How well are they doing keeping firearms out of the hands of minors, probationers or parolees for whom possession is still illegal.

The editorial asks the city to address the "flagrant violation of local traffic laws." Indeed, while the regional average for "Fatal and Serious Injury Crashes" over a recent three-year period was 74 per 100,000, the city's rates was 122. The governor could send the Highway Patrol into the city, as Gov. Mel Carnahan did in 1993, during what the editorial describes as, "the worst homicide spike in the city's modern history," while "the state was still in charge."

The number of murders may have "spiked," but the murder rate was only 69 per 100,000, compared to 88 in 2020. The Post-Dispatch back then applauded Carnahan's "commendable concern about local crime problems." State and federal prosecutors in the city also went to work and the murder rate dropped for four straight years and was back down to 32.8 by 1998. When Gov. Eric Greitens did the same thing as his predecessor 23 years later, the same editorial page dismissed the initiative as "political grandstanding."

As members of the East-West Gateway Board of Directors, we were outvoted when we attempted to prohibit the collaborative that was funded by the business community to address violence from hiring any social workers until the city had hired an equal number of additional police officers.

As for the General Assembly, if legislators don't want to take over the police department, they could amend the Earnings Tax statute to allow city residents and businesses a tax credit equal to the amount they spend on personal security for their home or business.

Nevertheless, we are pleased to see that Mayor Tishaura Jones has softened her positions somewhat and seems more committed to improving law enforcement. Hopefully she will follow the editorial's advice and "ignore the last echoes of the disastrous 'defund the police' rhetoric still hovering around the debate."

Ehlmann is the St. Charles County executive. Gannon is the Jefferson County executive. Brinker is the presiding commissioner of Franklin County.