It was reported that a former St. Louis city assistant prosecutor pleaded guilty to crimes involving her participation in a cover up with a St. Louis Metropolitan policeman by issuing false charges. This unethical and illegal misconduct goes to the heart of why crimes are so difficult to solve in the City of St. Louis where we have the vast majority of unsolved murders.
However, in a system where there is strong evidence of bias in the treatment of minorities and the socioeconomically disadvantaged, this type of incident validates and provides fuel to the fires of mistrust of the criminal system. This creates difficult challenges in delivering justice to victims of crimes that plague our great city.
This mistrust is particularly true for African Americans throughout the St. Louis region. Reports generated by the Missouri Attorney General and the United States Department of Justice have shown that a disproportionately high number of minorities are detained and interrogated by law enforcement officers. When these statistics are published, the disclaimer that such statistics “do not prove racial bias” most times follows it. However, it does not disprove the existence of bias either.
The truth of the matter is that it is not proof that matters; rather, it’s the lingering perception that these statistics leave in the minds of many African Americans. In turn, this continues to perpetuate an environment of mistrust that exists at the core of many citizens’ interactions.
When citizens have perceptions of inequity of the criminal justice system, it compromises the system as a whole. Many would like to oversimplify these discussions in terms of pro-law enforcement versus anti-law enforcement. It comes down to trust. The cooperation of victims and witnesses are essential to solve many of the unsolved serious and violent crimes that occur in our City. The confirmed actions of two assistant prosecutors (and possibly others) stand to indict the honorable efforts and dedication of the police officers and prosecutors that serve our city.
This current case is the most recent chip off an already unstable foundation of trust that exists in high-crime neighborhoods. Relatively recent illegal allegation of St. Louis city law enforcement have ranged from excessive force to internal collusion to inconceivable actions of assisting drug dealers in their murderous acts. With the current case involving a St. Louis city assistant prosecutor, there continues to be a perception of mistrust that is affecting our ability to deliver justice.
When public servants are entrusted to administer justice and they violate that trust, the consequences are catastrophic and slowly erode and weaken the criminal justice system as a whole. This further disenfranchises these communities where the real perception of lawlessness and cronyism permeates.
We must send a strong message in the resolution of this case that public servants’ misconduct will not be tolerated at any level and will be punished to the fullest extent of the law like any other criminal that preys on the community and betrays our trust.
Kimberly Gardner (D-St. Louis) represents District 77 in the Missouri House of Representatives.
