Aldermen approve city police review board

By Kevin Lavery & Tom Weber, KWMU

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwmu/local-kwmu-503013.mp3

St. Louis, MO – St. Louis aldermen approved the creation of a civilian review board for the city police department Friday. The vote was 17-12.

The legislation has stalled in past aldermanic sessions.

One controversy had been whether review board members should be elected or appointed.

The version that passed would have the mayor pick board members from a list of candidates that alderman submitted. The mayor's choices would then go back to aldermen for final approval.

Ald. Terry Kennedy (Ward 18) is the sponsor of the legislation.

But Ald. Stephan Gregali (Ward 14) had told the Post-Dispatch he planned to filibuster, saying the city's police board already acts as a civilian review board.

But when the bill came up for debate, Ald. Gregory Carter (Ward 27) called for a vote before Gregali could address aldermen. That procedure shut down debate.

The police board created its own civilian review board nearly two years ago, but Mayor Francis Slay hasn't appointed anyone to it because of the controversy.

Slay said he will not sign the legislation because some of its wording is offensive to police.

"I will not sign a bill that has this type of inflammatory, anti-police language in it," Slay said.

The bill's preamble says "A blue wall of silence persists among some officers throughout this country and in the City of St. Louis hindering fair internal investigations and raising questions whether officers themselves should be the only ones or the only level of investigation and leaving litigation as the main recourse for citizens not confident in a mostly internal system..."