Some Missouri state lawmakers want to have a special session to prevent cities from shifting money from law enforcement to social service programs.
But critics of the move contend that Republicans are merely pandering to their base, while adding out that relatively recent initiatives that raised sales taxes for public safety haven’t been particularly effective at causing crime to go down.
A group of Republican lawmakers held a press conference on Wednesday at the St. Louis Police Officers Association headquarters asking Gov. Mike Parson to call a special session to enact penalties against cities that cut funding for police and send it elsewhere.
Rep. Nick Schroer of O’Fallon said he would want the special session to figure out what would be the actual punishment for cities that embark on such a move. He pointed out how Texas recently enacted a measure that restricted cities from getting more property taxes if they cut law enforcement spending under certain circumstances.
“There’s several different options out there,” Schroer said. “Just like we’ve seen in other special sessions, many people will file different bills. Let the vetting process occur on the House and Senate floor — and may the best version make it to the governor’s desk.”
Schroer said the special session call is in response to situations in Kansas City and St. Louis. In Kansas City, Mayor Quinton Lucas backed a measure moving $42 million from the police budget into a separate fund that could be used for community engagement, outreach, prevention, intervention, and other public services.
Schroer also criticized St. Louis leaders like Mayor Tishaura Jones who want to shift $4 million allocated toward vacant policepositions to affordable housing, more support for the city’s homeless community, services for victims of crime and a new unit in the city’s legal department that would allow the Civil Rights Enforcement Agency to prosecute violations. That plan has yet to be approved by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.
That money has primarily been used to pay for officer overtime.
“We’re truly worried that by taking resources away from our law enforcement officers, especially when they need it the most, violent crime will skyrocket,” Schroer said.
Parson spokeswoman Kelli Jones said that a decision on a special session has yet to be made. She added Parson, a former sheriff, “believes in law and order, which means there must be brave men and women in uniform willing to enforce the law and protect victims.” She added "any effort to defund the police is dangerous and irresponsible."
In a statement, Tishaura Jones criticized the special session call — saying Schroer is “chasing clout while I'm chasing solutions.”
“St. Louis voters elected me to put the public back in public safety, and I'm willing to work with elected leaders who are ready to have hard conversations about the deep-rooted problems we face,” said Jones, adding that she invites people like Schroer to tour north St. Louis to see her crime plan in action. “But the proposed special session would be government overreach and a waste of taxpayer dollars at a time when all of us can least afford it.”
Increased funding for public safety
Other detractors of the special session pointed out that urban areas in Missouri already spend a lot of money on police — funds that haven’t shown that they reduce crime.
Public safety makes up a majority of Kansas City's general fund, and the police department saw increases to their budget in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
St. Louis and St. Louis County voters adopted half-cent sales taxes marketed for improving public safety in 2017. According to city and county budget officials, St. Louis has taken in and appropriated since 2017 more than $57 million from the tax through the third quarter of the 2021 fiscal year. And from 2017 to the end of 2020, St. Louis County brought in more than $159 million in revenue from the tax, spent $139.6 million, and has $20.1 million carried over into the next budget year.
Not all of those funds went toward police. But some was used for things like salary increases and new equipment.
“The notion that we haven’t funded policing or public safety is not true,” said state Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, D-St. Louis. “At least in the city, the majority of our budget goes toward public safety. We pass taxes for law enforcement. And we’re getting the same results: High crime. Still a huge distrust between communities and policing. We’ve got to do things differently.”
Jeff Roorda, business manager for the St. Louis Police Officers Association, said while some of the sales tax hike went toward salary increases “that didn’t keep us up with neighboring departments.”
Wildwood Mayor Jim Bowlin said money from the 2017 sales tax increases was helpful for his city, especially since the St. Louis County Police Department patrols the municipality. But he said he’s starting to see increases in petty theft in Wildwood, and contended decreased funding would make those problems worse.
“The first thing we hear from a resident that had their home or a car broken into is where’s the police?” Bowlin said. “It takes money to pay those salaries and protect them.”
Special session logjam
Parson will almost certainly call a special session on enacting a medical provider tax that funds Medicaid and congressional redistricting. He’s also facing special session calls for election-related items, such as reviving the state’s government-issued photo ID requirement.
Sen. Brian Williams, D-University City, said it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to have a special session on this particular issue when the legislature already approved police and criminal justice legislation in the regular session. Williams helped pass a bill that includes some major police accountability measures, such as creating a database of police-involved killings and efforts to prevent officers with problematic records from jumping from police department to police department.
“We could potentially see changes in our region when it comes to policing, as well as addressing crime,” Williams said. “Using fear tactics to scare folks and make them afraid of either the police or feel like they have to pick a side and create this divisive environment can only create more problems than solutions.”
Both Williams and Aldridge added that even if there isn’t a special session on this issue, it could re-emerge in the regular session — and be a test for Jones, who has pointed out her relationships with state legislators stemming from her tenure in the Missouri House.
“We have a new mayor and we need to give her an opportunity to lead — and not criticize her from day one,” Williams said. “She’ll get a full session in January as the mayor of the city of St. Louis to work with myself and other members of the legislature and try to work toward productive and constructive policies.”
Added Aldridge: “One thing I know about TJ, she’s not here for the hype. She’s here for the results.”
Follow Jason on Twitter: @jrosenbaum
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