State Rep. Jamilah Nasheed’s comments on February 17 on the House floor are inexcusable!
All efforts by police officers to fight local control in St. Louis city are done on our own time and our own dime. To imply that we do not work as hard as we can to prevent and fight violent crime in St. Louis is insulting and wrong. Every day I do everything I can to stop crime and catch and hold criminals responsible, despite the dangers and challenges we face from both the streets and the stranglehold of the mayor over our budget, due to decades of irresponsible city spending in other departments.
I have been shot at more than once, suffered numerous assaults, received broken bones, torn ligaments and tendons, been cursed at, threatened and spit on more times than I can count. I have missed several holidays, nights, and weekends with my family, paid for my own education, and never received more than a captain’s letter of commendation during my eight-year career.
I don’t want anything except to be able to do my job without political influence. I don’t play politics and don’t expect special treatment or extra benefits. All I ask is for residents of Missouri to realize that the City of St. Louis local government cannot manage its current responsibilities successfully. To give them more responsibility is a poor business decision and could have a disastrous outcome for those we protect and serve.
Did you know that the police today have lower budgets than before public safety tax increases were approved by St. Louis voters? It seems that voters are not being heard by city government already! And Nasheed wants to reward this lack of respect for voters’ wishes by giving irresponsible local politicians control of our safety and security.
If the city had control, I certainly could not write this letter without fear of major retribution. And to remain silent, I feel, would go against the oath I took to do my best to serve this city.
Because of frozen pay levels, infrequent raises when they were approved in the past and increasing health care costs, I also have to work secondary jobs for three other companies to pay my bills. And I am not eligible for social security as a city police officer, but I contribute 7 percent of my paycheck to my pension, just as the firefighters do, while other city employees do not. But Mayor Slay forgets to consistently mention that in his regular speeches on the matter.
Meanwhile, the 28 aldermen who will soon have control of our department, along with Mayor Slay, have voted themselves raises, given staff six-figure salaries in the mayor’s office, and given themselves better health care than I ever could have imagined for a yearly cost less than many of us pay in one month – all for part-time work in the case of the aldermen.
The aldermen can paint all the fire hydrants they want and waste city money on other aesthetic coverups for the real problem, which is social disorder, economic irresponsibility and a failing city education system in a U.S. economic recession. But once the police department falls into the hands of the mayor and aldermen, these cosmetic cover-ups and egotistical speeches will not keep citizens any safer.
Sherri Absher is a police officer in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and Veteran of the United States Marine Corps.
Â
Â
