ST. LOUIS – Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe paid a visit to St. Louis on Thursday morning for a ceremonial signing of a sweeping crime bill that shifts control of the city’s police force from local oversight to the state.

While Kehoe formally signed House Bill 495 on Wednesday in Jefferson City, he wanted to do a signing with the St. Louis Police Officers Association present. Many in the association are supportive of the bill.

Now signed into law, the bill allows for a five-person board to take control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in August. The board would consist of the St. Louis mayor and four commissioners.

Kehoe, who spoke to St. Louis media members Thursday for the first time since approving the bill, emphasized the historical precedent of the move and claimed it was effective in the past.

“We don’t have to imagine what this would look like,” said Kehoe. “It was under this control for 120 years. Kansas City is still under the same model. This is not some new thing that somebody just thought of. This is a proven process that has worked in the past and we want to give it a shot again. We think it can only get better.”

For more than a century, control of the St. Louis Police operated under a similar oversight structure with a Board of Police Commissioners that consisted of the mayor and gubernatorial appointees. That Civil War-era arrangement remained in place until voters overturned it during the 2012 election, and the City of St. Louis has retained exclusive authority over the department since 2013. 

The move to state takeover will return the department to a previous model.

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 on recommendations from the mayor’s office, St. Louis Police Officers Association and Ethical Society of Police.

A recent comprehensive poll from Saint Louis University and YouGov PLC found that around 47% of respondents would favor local control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (the current system set to change in August), while 39% favor state control and 14% are unsure.

While speaking to media Thursday, Kehoe was asked why he strongly pushed for a measure that has received mixed reactions from the public.

“Because it’s needed,” said Kehoe. “Sometimes you got to make decisions in leadership to do what you think is best for the people that you serve.”

The new crime bill signed into law also increases penalties for burglary, retail theft and sex trafficking of minors, while requiring Missouri law enforcement agencies to report immigration status of suspects.