In one of his first acts as Missouri’s governor-elect, Mike Kehoe is embracing a notion that is both statistically disproven and politically divisive: the notion that the answer to St. Louis’ crime problem is a state takeover of the city’s police force.
This relentlessly recurring proposal is driven not by data but by politics. The data is clear: The worst homicide spike in the city’s modern history came when the state was still in charge of city police. Under local police control, the number of murders annual has actually dropped to its lowest level in a decade.
That’s not to suggest crime isn’t the city’s biggest problem. St. Louis is still one of the most violent cities in America, a crisis that underlies most of its other crises. But the solution won’t be found in a distant state capital that often treats St. Louis as an ideological enemy rather than a partner.
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If St. Louis wants to keep the state’s meddling hands off its cops, the solution is for the city to clean its own house, which means getting far more aggressive about confronting crime.
The Republicans who control state government have been calling for a resumption of state control over city police almost since the state’s voters handed that control back to the city a dozen years ago.
Before that, St. Louis police had been under the control of a commission stacked with appointees of the governor since the Civil War era. That system was originally put in place because St. Louis was largely supportive of the federal union, and Missouri’s secessionist governor didn’t want the city to control its own police arsenal.
The stated reason for keeping that system in place until 2013 — and the reason Kehoe and other Republicans want it back — is that St. Louis has long struggled to bring crime under control. This is true but is hardly unique among urban centers. Yet most aren't being put under the control of a state government; currently, Kansas City is the only major city in the nation under such a yoke.
Kehoe, currently Missouri’s lieutenant governor, reiterated after his election victory last week that he favors returning the city police force to state control: “You’re not going to have any private business consortium spend money and redeveloping of any inner city ... unless they feel like their employees and their customers can be safe.”
True enough. Two problems:
One, a big part of the reason for St. Louis’ stubborn crime problems is the state’s relentless quest to rid Missouri of virtually any restrictions on guns — a quest Kehoe has supported. Under the state’s current system of allowing open or concealed carry with no background check or permit required, city police are rendered helpless to confront gun violence until the bullets are flying.
And two, even as St. Louis managed to tamp down homicides to their lowest numbers in a decade last year, Kansas City — despite the supposed panacea of state control of its police — logged a record-high number of murders. So much for the assumption that outstate politicians can do a better job of making city streets safer than cities themselves can.
Remember the good old days when the GOP called itself the party of "local control" and respected the will of the voters? A state takeover of city police would be the polar opposite of local control, leaving city residents with little direct say over their own policing. It would also reverse the overwhelming decision that voters (not just in the city but statewide) made in 2012 to return St. Louis police to the city's control.
The argument for a state takeover is weak but will be weaker if St. Louis can continue bringing down its rates of homicides and other major crimes. Just as importantly, the city must address more minor crimes, especially the flagrant violation of local traffic laws, which contributes to the sense of unchecked chaos that too often permeates the city.
Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and other city leaders should ignore the last echoes of the disastrous “defund the police” rhetoric still hovering around the debate and focus on getting more cops on the streets. That, more than anything else they could do, will undermine Jefferson City's latest attempt to separate St. Louis' citizens from their own policing decisions.
An earlier version of this editorial erroneously stated that St. Louis' murder rate was the lowest in a decade. It's the number of murders, not the murder rate, that has dropped. The editorial has been updated.
