ST. LOUIS — A bill that would allow the state to rule over St. Louis police has reeled in mixed emotions.
The bill would create a five-member board to oversee the department. Four of the members would be appointed by the governor and the fifth would be the St. Louis mayor.
A state commission oversaw the St. Louis Police Department dating back to the Civil War until 2013 when voters statewide gave power back to the city.
On Tuesday, 5 On Your side talked to St. Louis native and real estate developer Chris Goodson who served as president of the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners from 2005 to 2009.
"We looked at it as ... hey we're the citizens ... we tapped you individually to serve as a police officer or in this case the police chief. We don't want to interfere in how public safety goes. That's what you're the professional for," Goodson said.
Goodson recalled he and his fellow members’ roles as board members as “non-political.”
He added that the governor and police chief still had control of the budget.
"We were there as a checks and balances to bounce ideas off of them and to bring the perspective of the citizens," he added.
Some people aren't too fond of the push to return to state control such as Lew Moye, who is with the St. Louis Chapter of Black Trade Unionists and a member of the Community Justice Coalition.
"I mean the voters of this state voted overwhelmingly for St. Louis to have local control. "We say we are a democratic state. We have democracy in this country but when voters come out and express their democratic right ... then we have republicans in Jefferson City to overrule that,” Moye said.
Moye added he believed legislators should focus on the “root causes of crimes.”
"They can provide resources in our community like adult job training, education programs ... pre-school programs," he said.
State Representative Brad Christ, who sponsored the bill, said if the Senate passes it and the governor signs it, then the department could be under state control by August.
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