Robert Tracy

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department will no longer be under the control of the mayor’s office and instead will be overseen by a governor-appointed board.

The injured officer had to have his leg partially amputated. The suspect remains in critical condition.

The 31-year-old officer was arresting a suspect in a Metro East carjacking when they were both hit in the express lanes of Interstate 70. The suspect remained in critical condition as of Monday afternoon.

The House also passed legislation barring state funds from going to diversity, equity and inclusion programs and a bill shielding companies from having to place specific cancer warnings on pesticides.

The legislation heard in Senate and House committees would place the St. Louis police department under a governor-appointed board.

The change to the current contract between the city and the St. Louis Police Officers Association will boost an officer’s starting pay from $53,196 to $56,920.

The mapping tool, which department officials said cost “several thousand” dollars, gives people several different ways to view crime in the city.

Homicide numbers continue to drop after a near-record high in 2020. Shootings and burglaries are up slightly in 2024 compared to the same time last year.

Federal authorities have sentenced 15 members of south St. Louis gang 55 Boyz for fentanyl dealing, gun crimes and money laundering. The investigation involved St. Louis police and federal agents.

In the past decade, police solved fewer than half of the homicide cases with Black victims and two-thirds of the cases with white ones.