ST. LOUIS — Leaders in Franklin, Jefferson and St. Charles counties joined a call from St. Louis County mayors to consolidate the St. Louis and St. Louis County prosecutors' offices.
The call comes as St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner faces an effort to remove her from office by the Missouri attorney general.
In a joint statement, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann, Franklin County Presiding Commissioner Tim Brinker and Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon urged the consolidation of Gardner's office with that of St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.
"While this is outside our jurisdiction, it is a regional issue that affects us all," the statement said. "We will always do whatever we can to help other elected officials in the region, just as we hope they would help us if we needed it."
The statement from the county leaders echoes a similar statement from Bridgeton Mayor Terry Briggs, Wildwood Mayor Jim Bowlin, Manchester Mayor Mike Clement and Brentwood Mayor David Dimmitt earlier this month.
In their letter, the mayors proposed a six-point plan to tackle the St. Louis region's crime issues. The plan asks Missouri legislators to:
- Combine the St. Louis circuit attorney’s office and St. Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office into one regional office.
- Make it a life sentence without parole for illegally selling fentanyl that results in someone's death and a mandatory sentence of 25 years for possessing more than a pound of the illegal substance.
- Increase the penalties for those in possession of a firearm and illegal controlled substances.
- Implement mandatory cash bonds for charges on second (or more) offenses after a prior conviction to keep repeat offenders off the streets.
- Enhance the car theft penalty to a Class C felony and modify the existing language to include unlawful entry into a motor vehicle.
- Require officials to assess points - the family court system uses a point system - based on all crimes allegedly committed by juveniles. They also ask that the legislature require juveniles either be detained for 24 hours or picked up by their parents or legal guardians.
Bridgeton Mayor, Terry Briggs, said, they are already talking to legislators to push this plan forward by attaching it to HB 301.
"There will be a Senate substitute in the next week or so for a House Bill 301 and in the substitute will be the language of transferring powers to city from county," he added. "We are just throwing this out there as another alternative for the legislators for the last two weeks of session."
He said if this passed, it would change state statute.
5 On Your Side reached out to the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office and Wesley Bell shared this statement:
"I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment on proposals that aren't being formally considered by the public and, more specifically, by lawmakers.
That said, a major issue regionally and nationally is our government systems' failing to evolve. At times, it's like we're using floppy discs in the age of cloud computing. Any discussion about improving regional government ought to be systemic and strategic, and we must evolve to address our regional issues with sustainable regional solutions."
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey wants the embattled St. Louis circuit attorney removed from office. Bailey is claiming she's not doing her job.
Bailey has said nearly 12,000 criminal cases have been dismissed due to what he calls Gardner’s failures. More than 9,000 cases were thrown out as they were about to go to trial, forcing judges to dismiss over 2,000 cases due to what Bailey cites as Gardner's failure to provide defendants with evidence and speedy trials. He also claimed a toxic environment is running attorneys away from her office.
The full statement from St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann, Franklin County Presiding Commissioner Tim Brinker and Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon is as follows:
"We join St. Louis County mayors in their support for consolidating the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office and the St. Louis County Prosecutor into a regional prosecutor's office. We echo St. Louis City Mayor Tishaura Jones and St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell when they said that crime is a regional problem, and we need to work together for regional solutions.
"We feel this is a very good regional solution. It is important that it preserves local control and allows the voters to choose their prosecutor. While this is outside our jurisdiction, it is a regional issue that affects us all. We will always do whatever we can to help other elected officials in the region, just as we hope they would help us if we needed it.
"We agree with the approach of identifying specific tools that prosecutors and law enforcement need to address the disturbing trends in our region concerning car thefts, the spread of fentanyl, repeat offenders being released to commit crimes rather than post bond, and the increase in juvenile crime due to the lack of any consequences. We will be asking our state representatives and state senators to support this legislation."