After hearing comments from the public on October 24, the Citizen’s Advisory Committee (CAC) involved in the search for a new St. Louis police chief resolved to make a change to the process – involving those who have been adversely affected by police actions directly in the interview process.
When members of the public spoke out against the CAC’s perceived inability to represent the interests of those most affected by the police, the panel ended the public portion of their meeting by voting to address the issue. The committee said they would find a way to include these communities directly in the process, mentioning homeless youth as well as those who have been arrested or incarcerated. While they did not make any final decisions, CAC members expressed a desire to include these groups in the panel interviews they will conduct with candidates for the job.
David Dwight, co-chair of the committee and member of Forward Through Ferguson, began the meeting by introducing newly appointed Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards. Edwards provided the CAC with a transcript of interviews he had done of St. Louis citizens about what they wanted from their police department. The common theme, he said, was that everyone wanted more equitable policing.
As Public Safety director, Edwards and Mayor Lyda Krewson will choose the new St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) chief, from a list provided by the CAC and with approval from the mayor. Edwards, a longtime circuit court judge, said he is pro-police but knows there are some officers in St. Louis who need to lose their jobs.
“I don’t respect police officers who don’t believe that they work for you,” Edwards told the audience.
Edwards said he expects the CAC’s recommendations by December 15 and wants to have hired a new police chief by the end of the year.
The first audience speaker was Ruby Douthet, a member of the Metropolitan Congregations United, who presented the CAC with a report from her organization’s town hall meetings about what the community wanted from a new police chief.
“Our top three traits for a new police chief are a demonstrated commitment to racial and ethnic equality, a commitment to work with community members and leaders, a chief that will hold all of his or her officers accountable,” Douthet said. “We also insist that the public be given the opportunity to meet the final candidate with some type of forum, and MCU will be willing to help with that.”
The CAC panel heard from a number of other speakers, who expressed feelings ranging from optimism about Edwards’ ability to choose a new chief to anger and doubt that even a good leader could change much about St. Louis’ systemic policing problems.
Many repeated the call for St. Louis Mayor Krewson to immediately fire interim Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole, whose handling of protests surrounding the Jason Stockley verdict has been roundly criticized by protesters and observers.
Reverend Darryl Gray, a frequent participant and leader at the protests, walked up to the microphones to a few calls of “Congratulations on the glasses!” Gray thanked the audience members, then told the panel he’d had to get new glasses because a police officer had deliberately broken his last pair.
Gray told the CAC that St. Louis needed immediate action on the issue of police leadership, not more public meetings and community input.
“Everything that can be said has been said over and over and over again,” Gray said. “This committee needs to tell the mayor to make a decision right now.”
That decision, he said, should be to fire O’Toole, removing him from a leadership position and making it clear that he would not be the new police chief.
Though the CAC members were taking comments, not responding to questions from the audience, some conflict between community members did break out.
One audience member, who declined to give his name, stepped up to the microphone and said protestors were being counterproductive by disrupting the Delmar and Central West End neighborhoods. The residents of these areas, he said, largely support the protests. He suggested that a more productive approach would be to protest in suburbs where SLMPD officers live, such as Arnold and Manchester.
The speaker quickly met with backlash from the other audience members. Some shouted at him, accusing him of being a “fence-sitter.” Others pointed out that protesting in largely white Downtown and Central Corridor neighborhoods highlights the difference in police protection between those areas and the mostly black sections of the North Side.
Eventually, the speaker and many of the activists present, including Gray and Russell, took their conflict to the hallway. An increasingly large group congregated there, leaving a smaller crowd to listen to the CAC’s presentation of their progress thus far.
The original speaker eventually left without returning to the presentation, as did many of the activists and Edwards.
Inside the conference room, the CAC members began responding to public comment. Member Lisa Cagle, who also sits on the Coalition Against Police Violence and Repression, said the committee clearly needed to respond to the public interest in community policing.
Activist Amir Brandy, one of a few observers who had remained in the conference room, spoke up. He told the panel they needed the perspectives of people who had been on the other side of the law, those who had been arrested and spent time in prison.
“You need somebody on that panel from the other side, who will ask that officer the reality questions that they have encountered from experience on the streets,” Brandy said. “If you miss that, you’re gonna reproduce the exact same thing that we continue to have. This is why the problems continue to happen, because that side is not addressed.”
Cagle and Dwight lead the conversation on the panel about how this could be done, and Dwight introduced a resolution for the committee to find a way of including these individuals in the interview process. With a chorus of “ayes,” it passed. Cagle asked those present to write down the names of individuals or organizations who might want to get involved.
As the meeting wound down, voices in the audience were still speaking out about the need to end O’Toole’s tenure.
“Don’t wait until somebody else is killed,” Brandy said.
One audience member pointed out that the CAC had no direct power over the decision to end or continue O’Toole’s employment, but another had a suggestion of a tactic they could use.
“If this committee quits,” he said, “O’Toole is gone or Lyda’s gone.”
Jessica Karins is an editorial intern for the St. Louis American from Webster University.
