In this year’s State of the State address, our new Governor, Mike Kehoe urged legislators to pass a “comprehensive crime bill that includes increasing penalties for crimes like violent rioting and fleeing from law enforcement in a vehicle, cracking down on criminals who participate in reckless stunt driving and street racing, and efforts to increase oversight and accountability of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.” There are two large criminal justice bills in the Missouri Senate that include all of these priorities: SB 52 and HB 495. SB 52 has been passed out of committee and is on the calendar for Senate floor debate. HB 495 has already been fully passed by the House of Representatives, and in the last week, it has been heard and passed by the Senate Public Safety Committee, and will now be added to the Senate calendar for perfection.
Empower Missouri has opposed the state takeover of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for years, and we’ve written extensively about the reasons why in a entrada de blog anterior. Our reasoning hasn’t changed, even though the last two years of crime statistics continue to prove our point– crime is dropping in St. Louis City. St. Louis saw a 21% drop of homicides, more than 40 cases, in 2023 from 2022. The same was true for other types of reported crime; shootings were down 24% from 772 in 2022 to 552; felony thefts were down 39%; auto thefts were down 19%; and shootings involving juveniles were down 47%. This positive trend continued in 2024, with an additional 6% decrease in homicides and an additional 15% reduction in crime overall.
And, contrary to what many in this legislative body have feared, St. Louis is not defunding the police. The FY24 police spending package was up 6.6% from FY23, including raises for officers and a $2M increase to its capital equipment allocation to update and expand its vehicle fleet. On the contrary, Kansas City, whose police force is managed by the state, saw a 7% increase in homicides in 2023, in defiance of national trends. And while homicides fell in KC in 2024, nonfatal shootings were the second highest of any year in Kansas City’s history, and violent crime overall remained at consistently high levels. The number of people who were hit by bullets — and survived — rose 12% over the previous year, according to police data.
So, why would we take a leadership structure that clearly isn’t working to decrease crime in Kansas City, and replicate it in St. Louis, which is currently heading in the right direction? And how can legislators believe that it is okay to pass this legislation without a vote of the people, when we needed a vote in 2012 to get control of our police department back from the state?
I fear that we’re going to lose this battle this session, with the strong backing for this proposal from Governor Kehoe. Only time will tell how a state-appointed Board of Police Commissioners will impact crime trends in St. Louis, but I’m wary it will take us in the wrong direction. My biggest concern is the power that this will give unelected officials over the city budget, potentially forcing St. Louis to spend even more money on policing, as legislators were able to do in Kansas City in 2022. St. Louis is currently making wise investments in programs such as community-led violence interventions, affordable housing, and other efforts to decrease poverty in Missouri. I believe that these are key factors in our dropping crime rate, and I would hate to see those dollars reallocated to less effective tactics. If this bill is passed, advocates will have to be diligent in monitoring the work of the Board of Police Commissioners and ensuring that our progress in St. Louis City is not hindered by their leadership.
However, I’m hopeful that if advocates work together, we can amend these bills in the Senate to remove language that would infringe upon our right as citizens to peacefully protest. The bill has two provisions related to protestors. The first provision creates the offense of unlawful traffic interference. A person commits the offense of unlawful traffic interference if “he or she intends to impede vehicular traffic and he or she walks, stands, sits, kneels, lies, or places an object in a manner as to block passage by a vehicle on a public street, highway, or interstate highway.”
Blocking traffic is a time-honored tradition dating back to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and it should not be made illegal. Full stop. Does it inconvenience people? Yes. That’s the point. In a racially and socioeconomically segregated society, it is absolutely critical that we have the ability to get the attention of those who are not impacted by policies that disproportionately affect the poor.
The second provision is even more scary. These bills would substantially lower the threshold for rioting charges, which is currently defined as six or more people assembled who agree to violate laws with force or violence and then, while assembled, do violate those laws with force/violence. Under the proposed bill, rioting charges would apply when six or more people are assembled and any criminal laws are violated: there would no longer need to be pre-agreement to violate laws or force/violence necessary for a protester to be charged as a rioter. The removal of force or violence from the definition could make the mere act of protest and assembly a rioting offense: failure to disperse, for example, could become a felony rioting charge under this proposal. The provision simultaneously increases penalty provisions (from class A misdemeanor to class D felony and class C felony for future charges). A Class D felony conviction can result in up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
These bills create overzealous consequences for those who simply seek to make our state and our country a better place for all. These changes hinder our right to protest in a moment where the right to protest has perhaps never been more important. To protect the First Amendment rights of Missouri citizens, we urge you to reach out to your Senator and ask that these provisions be removed from SB52 and HB 495.
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