ST. LOUIS — A membership organization for primarily Black St. Louis police officers says a recent video about the department, titled “The Calling to Serve,” does not represent the diversity of the police department.
The Ethical Society of Police says the St. Louis Police Foundation produced the approximately seven-minute video, in which Chief Robert Tracy discusses his nine months at the helm and the crime-fighting strategies he uses.
The video is now on YouTube, a summary of it states, “Chief Tracy, an outsider to the department's 200-year history, has introduced innovative programs and additional resources.”
The Ethical Society posted a message on its Facebook page Tuesday, which stated: “Here is yet another video coming from our agency through the St. Louis Police Foundation where the diversity of our department is not represented. Our high-ranking black commanders and other ranking officers, who are representative of the community we serve, are particularly absent. This video was touted as having been presented to 33,000 officers. What a missed opportunity to honor the diversity in St. Louis, inspire minority officers to strive for leadership positions in their departments and even help recruit more black officers, which is desperately needed.”
The St. Louis Police Foundation is a nonprofit organization that pays for equipment, training and other special projects for the St. Louis and St. Louis County police departments.
Its President and Executive Director Michelle Craig sent a statement to 5 On Your Side, which read: "The Police Foundation did provide the funding for the production of this video, but the Police Foundation did not produce it. The department was responsible for and worked with the production crew on the content."
Businesses are the organization’s main supporters, having raised more than $36 million in the last 15 years supporting over 200 programs, according to the nonprofit’s website.
The St. Louis Police Foundation also contributed $100,000 to the St. Louis Police Chief’s salary, making Tracy the highest-paid police chief in the state with a salary of $275,000.
In the video, Tracy also discusses his use of CompStat, which is short for Computer Statistics. It’s a technology-based way to collect information on crime trends. The St. Louis Police Department has been using the system for at least a decade.
Tracy also talked about how crime rates have declined during the nine months he’s been chief. Nationwide, crime rates are also dropping.