It’s taken some time but the Missouri Auditor finally caught up with the 25-year-old analysis of the Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression: The St. Louis Police Department is dysfunctional.
Where that department goes from here will get a little more complicated but a lot more transparent. Most citizens who’ve been keeping up with this issue want to see the police department be truly a City entity as opposed to ultimately governor-controlled.
I have often been accused of being anti-cop when I point out the problems of the police department, when all I’ve ever advocated is accountability and lawful behavior from those paid by tax dollars to serve and protect.
Community organizers, like police officers, live and work close to the ground. We get up close to the good, the bad and the ugly of policing. We have seen the slippery slope of corruption get a boost from the turned heads of mayors, circuit attorneys, police board members, police chiefs and police officers. The more rogue cops got away with, the more bodacious and lawless they became.
Enter Missouri Auditor Susan Montee.
Montee’s audit was not a criminal investigation, but it involves a bunch of police officials who have been having a long party on the taxpayers’ dime. The public has been made aware of quite an array of department misdoing, but I’m sure it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Department credit cards distributed to dozens of employees to misuse at their discretion including a New York trip for the 2008 MLB All-Star Game. The towing company that misappropriated citizen’s cars and fees. A slush fund taken from felony suspects. World Series baseball tickets stolen from the evidence room. Tens of thousands of dollars also missing from the evidence room. Sums of monies paid out for no contractual reason, like $24, 000 paid to public information officer Richard Wilkes after he left the department. Double-dipping on vacation time and overtime.
And the list goes on.
I was particular struck by the fact that 4,000 weapons are in custody for no apparent reason. Have they been used as a standing stash for illegal activities, like throwaways when police want to prove a suspect was armed?
It must have been difficult for clean cops to be parts of this cesspool, watching abusive cops get perks. No wonder the morale was so low when Chief Dan Isom inherited the department. According to Montee, Isom has already been sweeping the department clean since his arrival, but she still plans on keeping an eye on the department.
With all the busts, pending lawsuits and more investigations, the concept of local control is easily rolling off the tongues of more and more folks, including those who were adamantly opposed to it initially.
Mayor Slay is acting like he’s always been for accountability, when in fact he vetoed the civilian review board passed by the Board of Alderpeople a few years ago. He’s been an ex-officio board member while some of the shenanigans were going on. Jeff Rainford, his chief of staff, now cries out “Let the people of St. Louis have their Police Department back!”
I don’t mind the People’s Justice Train getting crowded with supporters. What I do mind is those getting on late acting like they have been on board all the time. What I do have problems with is them trying to move out the conductors who’ve been guiding the train through some rough terrain making the journey smoother.
All aboard. Destination: local control.