April 2024 Annual Report

In 2023, the Policing Committee of the LWVSTL updated our Vision and Mission Statements, which now read as follows:

VISION STATEMENT: The LWVSTL Policing Committee envisions a St. Louis region in which:

• Police act without bias
• Police act without using excessive force, respecting constitutional rights of all citizens
• Police and the community work together
• Police departments are transparent and subject to independent oversight 

MISSION STATEMENT: The LWVSTL Policing Committee works to increase transparency on the use of excessive force in their communities; and to encourage, empower and help police and citizens to work together for the elimination of all excessive force.

In our work on excessive force, we compiled a list of eleven types of use-of-force data we believe should be available to the public on each police department’s website. These are:

1. Accreditation status
2. Whether or not the department reported use of force incidents to the Department of Justice and the Missouri Attorney General, as required by law
3. Annual report
4. Use of force policy
5. Date use of force police was last updated
6. Number of police-citizen contacts, number of UOF incidents, and percent of contacts in which there was UOF, per year
7. % of UOF incidents in which each type of physical force was used (taser, firearm, etc.), per year
8. % of UOF incidents in which citizen had various types of injuries (none, first aid at scene or in custody, ER, admitted to hospital, deceased, unknown), per year
9. Total number of complaints received (internal and external combined) per year
10. Types of allegations for all complaints (oppressive/rude, racial profiling, excessive force, discreditable conduct, neglect of duty, disobedience of orders, other), per year
11. Disposition of allegations resulting from all complaints (sustained, not sustained, unfounded, exonerated, closed/withdrawn, officer resigned), per year

Then we checked each of 48 police departments in our area to determine how much of that information the police shared on their websites. The results were placed into a use-of-force transparency spreadsheet.

We identified the six local police departments that both do the best job on reporting use of force data to the public and were willing to confirm our findings. These six departments provide at least seven of the eleven types of data on our list: Creve Coeur (9 of 11), Clayton (10 of 11), Ferguson (7 of 11), Florissant (8 of 11), Richmond Heights (10 of 11), and St. Louis County (8 of 11). Both Clayton and Creve Coeur Departments plan to increase their reporting to include all eleven types of data on our list in the coming year.

Ultimately, we hope to encourage all local police departments to recognize the value for police-community relations of being transparent about use of force.

In other work, the Policing Committee continued to inform itself on policing issues by reading a variety of relevant news articles and research reports and attending Zoom seminars. Two examples follow:

1. We reviewed the first annual Missouri Department of Safety report that was required by a bill last year from MO State Senator, Brian Williams. The report contains all serious use of force incidents by all departments in Missouri. A total of 113 use of force incidents were reported to the MO Attorney General, representing 393 law enforcement agencies out of 643 in the state. This was for a period of nine months. The next report will cover a year.
   1. The committee looked into a promising grassroots program known as Omaha 360, which has succeeded in decreasing gun violence, police use of force, officer-involved shootings and complaints against police in Omaha, Nebraska.

Chair: Louisa Lyles
Email: Policing [at] lwvstl.org

Policing committee members are working to connect to the consortium of non profits, agencies, and ministries that are being brought together by The Ethics Project - a justice initiative concerning local gun violence, crime, and mass incarceration.

When the LWVUS 2020 Convention endorsed the Resolution on Justice for Black People and People of Color, Leagues around the country quickly mobilized to adopt their own position and program recommendations. LWVUS emphasized that this was not a position; state and local leagues would have to develop their own.

The Metro Board of Directors was enthusiastic about the possibilities and under the leadership of Louise Wilkerson, a committee came together on July 17, 2020. Board members were Louise Wilkerson, Debra Cannamore, Joan Hubbard, Jennifer Rushing, Anne Sappington, Nancy Price, Irma Ruebling. Purpose was established: Encourage direct action, advocacy and education around issues of racial justice. The areas of focus are Healthcare, Education, Policing. Observer Core, and Voter Registration. Members were assigned committees to liaison and activities to investigate. During the fall, the Policing Committee continued its study of policing policies and practices in the Metro area.

In a search of original participants of the Resolution 2020 drafting committee in order to locate positions in existence covering racial justice, LWVCA and LWVAZ reached out to help the committee. The LWVCA had a state position on Criminal Justice which included all of the issues the Policing Committee was studying. The LWVAZ was preparing a concurrence with the California position for AZ’s state convention in July 2021. Both states Leagues enthusiastically shared materials to facilitate our concurrence.

When informed of the possible concurrence, the Policing Committee agreed to expand their data base to the entire state in order to present a concurrence at the May 2021 Missouri State Convention. Working toward that goal, a power point from California, with Missouri information added, has been shown to all units and an open zoom, followed by a survey with consensus of the position. The California Position that was the beginning is Social Policy: Criminal Justice:
The LWV California supports:

• a criminal justice system that is just, effective, equitable, transparent, and that fosters public trust at all stages, including policing practices, pre-trial procedures, sentencing, incarceration, and re-entry;
• reliance on evidence-based research in decision-making about law-enforcement programs and policies (including scheduled, periodic audits of program and policy effectiveness)

The State Board recommended this concurrence and it will be voted on at the May 15th State Convention.

— Chair Louisa Lyles, Mary Muldoon Leopold, Nancy Hirsch, Meredith Langlitz, Susan Taylor, Jan Scott, Carol Prombo, Lisa (Cole) Collier, Rhonda Jones, Ad Hoc: Nancy Miller, Angie Dunlap

Contact Name: Louisa Lyles

Email: Policing [at] lwvstl.org