Once more Governor Greitens is using photo ops in place of real solutions to the problems we face in Missouri. This time he is using the dedicated men and women of the Missouri Highway Patrol in what amounts to a political commercial to bolster his national image. Assigning a few more highway patrolmen to the interstates in and around St. Louis does nothing, repeat nothing, to address the real issues of crime prevention, prosecution, or getting at the root causes of crime.
It does not free up St. Louis officers because no one I know can remember the last time they saw a St. Louis police officer pulling speeders over on our highways. These officers would be welcome if they were interdicting the many addicts from St. Louis County, St. Charles and Jefferson County which come to St. Louis and fuel the drug sales and gang violence. But as long as they drive the speed limit I don’t know how Greitens’ folly accomplishes anything.
It is also a 90-day pilot program. Nothing like “going all in” to combat crime. Instead, his grandstanding, calling St. Louis “the most dangerous city in the United States” does more to hurt our image and the image of the entire State of Missouri.
If Governor Greitens cared about combating crime in St. Louis, after moving his own home and family to Warren County from St. Louis, maybe he could start by giving our Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner the additional funds she needs to prosecute career criminals. Maybe he could support more funds for our schools to combat truancy – and more funds for drug rehab and social services.
If this were a serious effort to combat crime maybe the Governor would sit down with those of us closest to the problem, the State Representatives, Senators and Aldermen and women of North St. Louis to put together an in-depth, well-funded REAL FIX and not a band-aid set to fall off in 90 days.
