Ten years after gaining local control of its police for the first time since the Civil War, the city of St. Louis has more murders than ever before — and Missouri's Republican lawmakers are again pressuring for a state takeover of the police force.
The debate over policing power in St. Louis — a racially diverse, heavily Democratic city long vexed by violent crime — carries political and racial overtones like those that have roiled other cities and states this year. But data suggest neither state nor local control may make much difference when it comes to stemming homicides.
