Many weeks ago, this publication ran commentary advocating professionalizing the St. Louis Police Department. Soon after, the towing scandal involving Police Chief Joe Mokwa hit the front page of the Post-Dispatch and Mokwa soon resigned.
Shortly after Mokwa’s hurried departure, the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners announced their search for a new chief. That announcement was stunning, because the federal investigation into the department is likely to involve other police commanders and Missouri law requires the board to choose a chief from within the ranks.
The announcement that Dan Isom was appointed chief was issued on the Monday following the Vice-Presidential Debate in St. Louis. The timing n on Monday at the beginning of a news cycle n clearly indicated that board members consider Isom to be a pristine candidate.
Initial public scrutiny of Isom’s qualifications suggested he should be a recruiting poster for law enforcement. He is an experienced, apparently honest cop, a clean-cut, soft-spoken family man who is articulate and has achieved an abundance of formal education. He is the first St. Louis police chief with a Ph.D.
Now Chief Isom is swimming with the sharks. Will he successfully fend for himself, or be consumed by the stealthy predators around him?
Meanwhile, the community looks on, wondering how he will clean up Mokwa’s mess and prevent a similar situation in the future. Since the Internal Revenue Service is leading the federal investigation, it would be safe to assume that tax evasion is alleged. How would Chief Isom handle monumental allegations of corruption within his department?
Here’s a suggestion.
It’s said that money is the root of all evil. Money is certainly one of the key elements that lubricates the wheels of corruption. Keeping diligent watch on the personal finances of department employees would lead to early detection of circumstances that could result in an IRS investigation of police commanders.
Being a former employee of Missouri’s first gambling casino, I can personally attest to Missouri’s stringent reporting requirements regarding the personal finances of casino employees. All financial holdings, partnerships, stocks, bonds, mortgages, checking and savings accounts, outstanding loans, et al. must be reported, as well as immediate reporting of all changes in one’s financial circumstance.
In all cases, the employee is obligated to divulge the names and other pertinent information concerning those who share their financial holdings. Mortgage lenders, business partners, rental property, marriage or divorce, checking and savings accounts, auto and business loan, etc. must be divulged.
The benefits of implementing financial reporting for all police personnel are obvious. However, those benefits would be reaped only if an adequate system of information tracking were in place and honest, competent personnel were tending that system. To be effective at detecting or preventing financial shenanigans, it would be necessary to continually monitor all personnel and immediately investigate all changes in financial status of department employees.
As St. Louis government and its police department continue to be hotbeds of nepotism, cronyism and favoritism, it would be interesting also to maintain a record of relationships that are declared via the implementation of a financial disclosure requirement.
If the Board of Police Commissioners and their coterie have installed Isom as chief to gain a façade of respectable professionalism, then Isom’s best intentions will be thwarted by the “business as usual” operation of police personnel. In that scenario, Isom would be summarily dismissed at the end of his three-year contract, replaced by one of the more “connected.”
But if the board allows Chief Isom to actually function as the department’s top administrator, then he could do well n provided that he implements higher professional standards.
Michael K. Broughton is a former St. Louis police officer and columnist for The Gendarme, the publication of the St. Louis Police Officers Association.