For nearly 150 years, the people of St. Louis have been spectators to the actions of their police department. This is simply not right. One-third of the city's budget is spent on the police department. Those dollars come from taxes paid by the people of St. Louis. If the people are going to foot the bill for the department, shouldn't they also have a say in how the department is run?

Unfortunately, this unfair system has been in place for far too long. The state seized control of the department in the run-up to the Civil War when it feared the pro-Union city would rise up in opposition to the pro-Confederate state. Obviously, this threat no longer exists, and the time has long since passed when the people of St. Louis should have regained control of their police department. Only two city police departments remain under the control of the state: St. Louis and Kansas City. Every other municipality in this state has control of its own police force. Certainly, if they can handle it, St. Louis can as well.

In recent years, the people of St. Louis have been forced to endure scandal after scandal in their police department. Both the people and the city officials they have elected have been powerless to do anything to stop some of the egregious offenses seen in the department.

The most recent example is the Bommarito incident. Vince Bommarito was a member of the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners. On Feb. 13, he called in a favor when his nephew was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. The nephew was released without charge. Unable to take action, the City of St. Louis watched and waited for the governor, 132 miles away, to act against this offensive misuse of power. He ultimately did nothing and instead waited more than a week, until Feb. 22, to receive a letter of resignation from Bommarito.

TA November 2009 state audit gave evidence of the board's mismanagement of the department. A few of the specifics:

• The board allowed a contractor to underpay towing fees by more than $450,000.
• $10,141 in restaurant and catering purchases for department functions were spent without documentation between June 2007 and May 2008.
• Two $6,000 hand-crafted gold badges were purchased in July 2008 for the former chief of police, one of which he kept. Five similar badges were purchased at the cost of nearly $2,000 each for the current chief of police, two lieutenant colonels and two assistant chiefs.
• The St. Louis Cardinals provided $19,000 worth of free baseball tickets to the department over a seven year period, a potential violation of the law.

Clearly, the state-run system isn't saving any money or improving crime fighting. Instead, we've seen a great deal of waste and corruption. This is embarrassing for the city and could be easily fixed with self-governance. The people have a right to demand that their police department be held accountable, and the board is currently failing to provide that accountability. I have heard from many of my constituents, nearly all of them in favor of this legislation. I have them to thank for my position and I must listen to their demands.

Most of the opposition to this bill has come from the police themselves. They are, understandably, concerned about their pensions. But this bill does not make any changes in that regard and pensions are, in fact, governed by another section of the law altogether. For any changes to be made in that regard, it would require another piece of legislation to be introduced and passed through the House and Senate and be signed by the governor. I am not, nor will I ever be, in favor of any member of the House or Senate making changes to the pensions of these brave officers.

House Bill 1601 comes for a vote before the Special Standing Committee on Urban Issues Monday evening. I hope you will contact each member of the committee and urge them to vote to pass this bill out of committee. This issue has never received a debate on the House floor and such a vote would be a historic accomplishment for the city of St. Louis.