By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – A state audit released Wednesday finds 12 percent of all Missouri law enforcement agencies are not fully complying with state law regarding police standards and training.
State Auditor Claire McCaskill says some departments are failing to perform criminal background checks on their officers, and are not consistently reporting employment information.
She says this lack of notification is tarnishing the reputation of honest police officers.
"A law enforcement officer has such an important position of public trust," McCaskill said. "And when we have an incident where a bad officer violates the law and we find out that this has been in his record and nothing was done, by implication it makes all the police officers look bad."
McCaskill's office says while there have been a few isolated cases, the majority of St. Louis area police departments are properly reporting all new hires.