NO State Meddling With STL Police!

I urge you to oppose HB53, HB213, HB216, HB306, HB359, HB702, and any similar bills. These bills usurp control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department from St. Louis City and place it under State control. None of these bills are proposed by Representatives that live or work in St. Louis City and the people of St. Louis City do not want this. The City of St. Louis only regained control of their police department in 2017, before which it was under State control. Crime was worse under prior State control and the City has been making improvements in the last 5 years. Therefore, the argument that the State regaining control will somehow fix problems holds no weight.  St. Louis has just hired a new police chief. Let the Mayor and the new Chief do their work. If the State wants to help the police in St. Louis, they can make an effort to work with them and provide resources. Allow officers to get guns off the street and work with the Federal Government to do so. This is a blatant, and frankly, racist move to disregard the will of the citizens of St. Louis and steal away local control. This is clear hypocrisy from the conservative party of "small government". This is oppression. There is an alarming trend from this Legislature to arrest control from local governments, both urban and rural. Let St. Louisans govern St. Louis. I urge you to oppose these bills.