‘It’s stressful’: SLMPD now short over 300 officers as they continue to fight city crime

By Jon Kipper

Click here for updates on this story

    ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — While St. Louis Metropolitan Police officers continue to try and get a grip on crime, they are facing a shortage of over 300 officers.

The city budgets for 1,224 officers and according to police rosters provided by the state, they were near that number in May of 2021, with 1,208 commissioned officers at the time.

But the most recent data shows they now only have 906 officers, a drop of around 25%.

“They want to help the community, they want to help combat crime, help deter crime in some areas, but sometimes they just feel beaten down,” said Donny Walters, President of the Ethical Society of Police and Sergeant with SLMPD.

Walters said while recent 9% raises help, they haven’t felt appreciated for three or four years.

“They feel like they’re not appreciated. They’ll come in and work anywhere 8-12 hours, but still are taken the browbeating from sometimes administration, from sometimes our local government,” Walters said.

Walters also said sometimes officers will come to work with no clear idea how many others are working that day.

Faith leaders mourn gun violence victims, hope for change in laws “It’s stressful to them,” Walters said.

Just last week, Alderman Rasheen Aldridge asked Interim Public Safety Director Charles Coyle about the number of officers in the department.

“I know we’re currently down roughly 312 law enforcement officers, correct?” said Aldridge.

“I didn’t think it was that high. I thought it was more like 200,” said Coyle.

The next day, Police Chief Robert Tracy told First Alert 4 they were working on a comprehensive plan to bring officers back on the force.

“All police departments across the country are down. That’s very rare that’s at budgeted strength in this day and age. We gotta take this time to try and rebuild and try and get people back in this profession,” Tracy said.

Monte Chambers, who is with the Office of Public Safety, said there are 30 trainees who will be commissioned officers by next spring and summer.

When we asked residents what they make of the shortage, we got mixed opinions.

Some said it doesn’t matter.

“I think more police hasn’t helped with crime,” Logan Wyatt said. “Anytime I called the police, they weren’t much help.”

Others are considering carrying a gun in the city.

“Maybe every law-abiding citizen [should] arm themself. Maybe that’s the only solution,” Felix said.

Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office pointed out the recent decrease in crime, as the city has seen roughly a 20% decrease in overall crime from last year. A spokesperson for her office also said they’re working to fill the vacancies.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.