As previously reported by St. Louis Public Radio, management of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officially returned to the purview of the City of St. Louis on Saturday. After the at times contentious process to regain control, and a 152 year run under state management, the city can now look ahead to the impact local control will have on St. Louis.
The two main results of the return of local control will be an increase in responsiveness by the police department and a more streamlined city and police budget, said Mayor Slay's Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford.
"The first thing you're going to notice is, I think the police department is going to be a lot more responsive to them," said Rainford.
He pointed to the police response a few weeks ago to the surge in car break-ins as an example of the increased responsiveness indicative of the transfer of control.
"With local control on the horizon, that weekend there was a hue and cry about all these car break-ins, and in fact the chief responded quickly, moved some officers off of one detail onto the car break-in detail, made a bunch of arrests and was immediately responsive to the needs of the citizens," said Rainford.
The city has also begun combining services as well, from IT to legal, which will end up saving taxpayers money, said Rainford. The streamlining process will be achieved through attrition.
St. Louis on the Air provides discussion about issues and concerns facing the St. Louis area. The show is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer and hosted by veteran journalist Don Marsh.
