ST. LOUIS — Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe held his first news conference as governor-elect on Wednesday, going into detail about issues he wants to tackle first. One of them is crime.
Kehoe said he wants to see the state regain control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. The governor-elect has a vested interest in St. Louis as he is the first governor from the city in about a century.
Kehoe said he and his team have been working on this crime plan for Missouri since he's been on the campaign trail.
“I've been very vocal, especially in St Louis," Kehoe said. "I think state control is appropriate for that police department. I've talked to Mayor Jones this morning and she violently disagrees. I wouldn't say violently, she very much disagrees."
The State of Missouri controlled the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for more than 150 years until voters returned control to the city in 2013.
Conner Kerrigan with Mayor Tishaura Jones' office said state control doesn't work.
“If the point of state takeover is to make the city safer, that's not what it does," Kerrigan said. "You can tell because in 2023 after the state took over the Kansas City police department, they saw one of their highest murder rates ever in recorded history while St. Louis saw a 10-year low."
Mayor Jones released the following statement Wednesday: "Every year since I've been in office, St. Louis has seen a significant reduction in crime and homicides, and a state takeover threatens that progress. I’ve repeatedly made it very clear that a state takeover does not make cities safer. If a state-controlled police department was the model for law enforcement, then Kansas City should be the safest place on Earth. I'll continue to work with Chief Tracy, our Office of Violence Prevention, Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, and our community partners to reduce crime in St. Louis and advocate fiercely against state control."
Even though Kehoe said St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy and Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore are doing a good job, he sees a disconnect between city government and business developers.
“They're concerned about spending capital in downtown and considering again an additional redevelopment without the crime situation improving,” Kehoe said.
Tracy has taken a firm public stance that he is opposed to state control of the department and said it is unnecessary.
“You have a police chief that's answering to a mayor, and you have a mayor that brought an outsider in for the first time in over 200-year history. And we're actually making strides and getting things done,” Tracy said.
He pointed to the latest numbers showing crime is down.
“We're trending about 17 less homicides than last year, which was a 10-year low. So the officers are getting the job done. We have about a 17% reduction in crime from last year, and it was a reduction from years past,” Tracy said.
Both the St. Louis Police Officers Association and the Ethical Society of Police supported state control because of concerns over recruitment, pay and morale.
Tracy said the department heard those concerns and is working on them.
“The mayor last year gave a historic raise to our police officers and to the supervisors, and it was almost $12,000,” Tracy said
As for recruitment, they’re not alone in the struggle to get more police officers on the force.
“But we're getting officers into the profession. We've had close to 25 officers that had left the police department, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, and went to other jurisdictions, that I've sworn back in in the last year. And I might have three more that I'm swearing back in next week,” Tracy said
He said fears state control would undo any progress the department made.
“And you know what gets hurt by that? The people that we're trying to keep safe, the communities,” Tracy said.
Tracy and Mayor Jones said they will do whatever it takes to keep the department under local control.