Alderman Antonio French worked hard to get the chair of the aldermanic public safety committee to call a hearing with Police Chief Sam Dotson and the city’s new director of public safety. At the meeting held on Thursday, French was anything but satisfied.
“What happened in today’s meeting was disgraceful,” French said (with some abbreviations) on Twitter, where his more than 3,800 readers include many of the city’s elected officials and media representatives.
“Not allowing aldermen to ask questions, threatening to have the public removed. Local control?”
The “local control” refers to the fact that the City of St. Louis now administers its own police department, following Mayor Francis G. Slay’s successful push to take “local control” of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department away from a board of gubernatorial appointees.
French was implying bitter irony in the fact that the city now has “local control” of its police department, yet citizens were denied the opportunity to ask questions of the city’s police officials at the public hearing.
Alderwoman Phyllis Young, who chairs the committee, did not allow the public to ask questions. She also did not allow aldermen who are not on the committee to ask questions. Further, she placed tight time limits on the questions she did allow from committee members.
“Much of today’s presentation was about how violent crime in St. Louis affects black people,” French said, with some abbreviations, on Twitter. “Then black people weren’t allowed to ask questions.”
Virvus Jones, former alderman and comptroller for the city, said it was the chair’s prerogative to limit who could ask questions at the hearing. “But it’s a public hearing in a public facility, so I find it highly unusual that she would not let the public speak,” Jones said.
Young did not immediately respond on Friday when asked why she placed these limits on the hearing she chaired.
French posted a photograph of some citizens from the 21st Ward, which he represents, who attended the hearing but went home without asking any questions about public safety at this public meeting.
“I apologize to these wonderful women on behalf of my city for how you were treated today,” French said on Twitter. “Your voice DOES matter.”
