While Chief Kenneth Gregory has led the St. Louis County Police Department in an interim capacity for several months, his permanent appointment came last month. He’s now ready to dive into the gig, tackling issues and improving the department.
“We’re doing a lot of things to make this department more open to anybody that wants to take advantage of what we’re doing to try to get more people in here.” —Chief Kenneth Gregory
As the department’s first Black chief, Gregory inherits a myriad of race-related issues within the department, from a St. Louis County police dispatcher using a racial slur on the police radio, to accusations that reassignments are used not only as retaliation but to enforce race-based discrimination.
“Our culture has been developed over 66 years and, you know, we’re trying to rid ourselves of some of the past practices that we’ve been dealing with, past policy issues that we’ve been dealing with to try to make us a better department, try to get rid of some of those issues that we have been accused of having,” Gregory told The St. Louis American. “And … I’m sure that we have had racial division in this department, and we probably still do, but we’re working on things within this office to try to alleviate those things.”
Gregory provided a few examples of how he will go about addressing race-related complaints internally, namely promoting an open policy for employees to bring their concerns to leadership—including directly to the chief himself if necessary.
“The thing I don’t want is for you to have those issues and don’t say anything about it,” he said. “And then, at some point it comes [out]. I want to have the opportunity to resolve those issues before it hits the media, before it goes to court. But would you … open up with me and open up with our command to get those issues dealt with?”
As his appointment came amid a string of first responder deaths and injuries in the area, Gregory said the department tries to reduce crime by proactively policing in areas where its highly concentrated. He believes it’s critical to focus on building trust between officers and community members in order to prevent crime and solve the ones that are committed.
With the department’s staffing levels down, though, he said this can be challenging. Which is why he wants to focus on recruitment efforts in his first year as chief.
“So, we’re not doing as much proactive policing as we want to do,” he said. “We’re doing a lot of reactive things, trying to get situations resolved within our communities.”
Gregory also acknowledged how important inter-agency collaboration is in the region, noting he’s looking forward to working with the city’s next chief and has worked well with the current chief, John Hayden.
On the day of his appointment, Gregory also announced his appointment of Lt. Col. Bryan Ludwig as his deputy chief. Ludwig has served as interim deputy chief since [former St. Louis County Police Chief Mary] Barton’s departure.
Ludwig joined the department in 1996 and previously served in the North County Precinct, the Bureau of Professional Standards, the St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy, the Bureau of Drug Enforcement, the Division of Patrol, and is currently assigned to the Office of Chief of Police.
However, the Ethical Society of Police has previously expressed concerns about Ludwig, who is white, saying he is currently at the center of discrimination lawsuits.
Gregory told The American he was not aware of those concerns but that he intends to continue the department’s relationship with ESOP, an association of more than 300 police officers, park rangers and civilians that advocates for racial and gender equity in law enforcement in the city and county.
“We’re doing a lot of things to make this department more open to anybody that wants to take advantage of what we’re doing to try to get more people in here,” he said.
As for making history as the department’s first Black leader, Gregory hopes his success and that of people like St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones shows others what’s possible.
“These positions are possible for anybody that wants to put in the work … because we didn’t get these positions just because we were Black,” he said. “[Jones] didn’t get her position just because she was Black. She worked for that position. I don’t feel like I got this position just because I was Black. It takes work, and I hope that transforms to the young people that are out there trying to get to these positions because it takes work to get here.”
