By Katie Moore
The Marshall Project
https://www.themarshallproject.org/
Two St. Louis police officers hit a handcuffed man and shocked him with a Taser, leading to a $600,000 settlement. A deputy in southwest Missouri was convicted of assaulting another deputy’s wife. An officer in southeast Missouri who kicked a man on the ground and wrote a misleading report was fired.
They kept their Missouri police licenses and are still working as officers, despite being brought before a state discipline board.
Misconduct is supposed to be reported to the Missouri Department of Public Safety, but sometimes it takes years for that to happen — if it’s ever done. Police department officials aren’t required to report misconduct within a certain amount of time and face no consequences for failing to do so. Missouri isn’t a state that automatically revokes a police license when an officer is convicted of a serious crime.
The Marshall Project – St. Louis reviewed over 600 misconduct allegations vetted by two agencies before going before a state commission. The review unveiled a process that can take years to address a problem and routinely allows officers who have committed serious wrongdoing to keep their jobs.
The findings raise questions about how effective the state is at rooting out cops who have violated their duties. Many even continue to work while under investigation.
Police accountability advocates say Missouri’s system undermines public safety and trust.
“The stakes are just too high when it comes to law enforcement and the power that they hold over people’s lives,” said Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project.
Missouri’s police licensing system has loose regulations enforced by a web of agencies. State law also prevents Department of Public Safety officials from disclosing where officers worked in the past. The so-called muni shuffle, when an officer moves around to different municipalities, can be an indicator that they’ve run into trouble in their career.
Z Gorley, a spokesperson for the legal advocacy organization ArchCity Defenders, said they were concerned not only about the potential for officers to switch departments, but also about transparency.
The Missouri Department of Public Safety is responsible for issuing the police licenses required to work as a sworn officer. Its Peace Officer Standards and Training program investigates reports of misconduct. The department’s spokesperson, Mike O’Connell, said anyone can submit a complaint, though most come from police departments. When department officials learn of an incident through news reports, they can also open a case.
If officials determine an officer should face discipline, they then send the case to the Missouri attorney general’s office. Officials there can file a complaint with the Administrative Hearing Commission, which decides if discipline is warranted. If it is, the deputy director can suspend or revoke a license, or place it on probation, O’Connell said.
