This is an article from the May 2025 Civitas Examiner (Volume 2, No. 2) and was written by one of our students, Hank F. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue. To read more Civitas Examiner stories or to submit your own, click here.
Earlier this year, the Missouri Congress passed House Bill 113-39, which aims to take control of the St. Louis Police Department.
Under this bill, the St. Louis Metro Police Department will be managed by a board of six members, consisting of the mayor and four officials selected by the governor, who will be confirmed by both the Missouri Senate and the citizens of Saint Louis. for a minimum of two years.
Back in 2013, Missouri voters granted control of the city’s police force to the city itself. Following a drop in the homicide rate last year, the city recorded the lowest homicide rate in St. Louis’ history. Seeing this takeover as a large setback, the city filed a lawsuit against the state over the takeover of the police department.
A similar measure had been previously enacted to take state control of the Kansas City Police Department. This is not the first time that Missouri has exerted control over the St. Louis Police Department, which has some of the highest rates of police violence in the entire country.
The state of Missouri has stated that the purpose is to help curb crime in St. Louis.
This bill surprisingly garnered significant support from Democrats in both the House and Senate. While the Ethical Society of Police and other St. Louis police officers’ unions supported the legislation, legislative proponents did not include any representatives from St. Louis.
This bill requires St. Louis to allocate more of its general funds towards the police department. The only people currently upset under this current system are the police officers under city control. Looking at past precedent, the city will fail to see returns for our increased police spending.
Recently, the St. Louis Metro Police Department was ordered by the Missouri state government to reallocate resources previously used to investigate gangs and organized crime for the task of hunting down undocumented individuals. Unfortunately, our police have complied.
This does not bode well for state control, as this misuse of city resources is indicative of our legislature’s actions. This seems to be a continuation of Missouri’s Republican majority controlling the Democratic cities.
