House Committee approves bill to give state control of St. Louis City Police

ST. LOUIS – A state takeover of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) is one step closer to becoming a reality after a key committee in Jefferson City advanced the legislation on Wednesday.

The state takeover bill in the House of Representatives passed out of the Crime and Public Safety Committee by a 13 to 6 vote on Wednesday. A Senate committee had already pushed forward its version of the bill earlier this week, bringing the issue of police raises to the forefront of the state takeover debate.

State Rep. Brad Christ, who is sponsoring the House state takeover bill, accused St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones of injecting politics into policing by making police raises conditional on local control.

Mayor Jones, who is up for reelection this year, announced plans to give city police officers a seven percent raise but stated that the raises would not occur if the state took control of the police department. She has been actively fighting the state takeover legislation and has spoken out against it at the state capitol.

Meanwhile, during an appearance at FOX 2 at 5 p.m., SLMPD Chief Robert Tracy argued for local control and said the state lawmakers pushing for a state takeover are the ones playing politics with this issue. According to Tracy, crime numbers are down 50% downtown, 42% in Downtown West, and it is overall down in almost every neighborhood.

“I believe it’s politics in policing—absolutely. When I came in two years ago, they were looking for a change, and this mayor hired the first outside police chief in two decades, looking for that change,” Tracy said. “We met all their benchmarks, and then they came back again last year, and we met them again. So when you continue to make the progress they asked for, why are we back at the table again?”

The outcome of the state takeover legislation remains uncertain, as does the approval of Mayor Jones’ pay raise plan by the Board of Alderman. The debate continues as both sides present their arguments on the issue of local versus state control of the police department.