ST. LOUIS – As Missouri lawmakers push for a bill to shift control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to a state-appointed board, Kansas City’s Mayor Quinton Lucas has spoken out, expressing his belief that St. Louis does not need such a change.

Kansas City, Missouri, is the only other city in the state whose police force operates under state board control, through which appointments to the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners are made by both the governor and the mayor.

St. Louis operated under a similar system for nearly 150 years until voters overturned it in 2012. Since then, the St. Louis Mayor’s Office has retained exclusive authority over the department. However, House Bill 495, which seeks to reverse that change, is gaining momentum and has already cleared the Missouri House of Representatives.

Lucas recently shared his opposition to the bill in greater detail in an opinion piece for the St. Louis-Post Dispatch and an on-air appearance Tuesday on KMOX’s “The Chris & Amy Show.”

Lucas argues that while Kansas City has navigated nearly eight years under state control, the system has not addressed local issues like long wait times for 911 calls, property crime spikes and slow administrative responses.

In the Post-Dispatch opinion piece, Lucas suggested that shifting power away from local leadership in St. Louis could be detrimental to the community, emphasizing that local accountability is essential for improving public safety.

“No evidence nor logical justification exists to believe that moving political accountability further away from the citizens of St. Louis will lead to better public safety outcomes,” said Lucas.

On KMOX’s “The Chris & Amy Show,” Lucas explained that the nature of Kansas City’s police board appointment process, at times, has led to political appointments rather ones focused on addressing public safety. He expressed doubt that a similar system would work for St, Louis in the long-term.

“Everyone in the city says what holds us back is public safety and I cannot say honestly to anyone in Kansas City, St. Louis, or anyone in Missouri that state control is a better system,” said Lucas.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones echoed a similar comment when HB 495 cleared the Senate last week, stating, “To this day, no lawmaker who supports state takeover of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has been able to say how it would make the City of St. Louis safer.”

If HB 495 is approved by the Missouri Senate and Gov. Mike Kehoe, it would create a five-person board would take control of SLMPD in August. The board would consist of the St. Louis mayor and four commissioners.

To qualify, commissioners must have lived in the City of St. Louis for at least three years and cannot hold any other public office. The governor would have sole discretion over one appointment, while the remaining three would be selected based off recommendations from the mayor’s office, St. Louis Police Officers Association and Ethical Society of Police.

The bill also includes several crime-related provisions, including increased penalties for several specific crimes and requiring law enforcement to report the immigration status of criminal suspects.