51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� When Rachel Guzman began her four-year career as a 51黑料 patrol officer in north 51黑料, she said the district was understaffed but the workload was still manageable.

That changed, she said, around 2020. The police killing of George Floyd led to weeks of protests in 51黑料 and nationwide, and calls intensified to defund police departments altogether. Meanwhile, tensions continued to mount between police and former Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner, first elected in 2016 on the promise to deliver criminal justice reform and hold police accountable. The result was a police exodus.

鈥淧eople had started leaving the department,鈥� she said. 鈥淧eople were fed up at that point.鈥�

Guzman herself left the 51黑料 police department, and policing entirely, in September 2021 following the birth of her first child.

The department has grappled for years with staff shortages, struggling to hire new officers and keep cops on board. The Post-Dispatch recently interviewed 16 former city cops about why they left the department.

Their reasons varied, but themes that came up repeatedly were conflicts with Gardner鈥檚 office, staffing shortages and politics. The city鈥檚 low pay relative to other departments in the region was also mentioned, but most officers said that wasn鈥檛 the main factor in their departure.

Half of those 16 officers left policing altogether. Five retired, and three left to work for another police department. Collectively, they represent more than 200 years of employment with the city police department.

A decade ago, when the city took control of the department after 152 years of state control, the agency employed 1,301 officers. Now the department is budgeted for about 1,275 officers but employed fewer than 950 as of Monday.

51黑料 isn鈥檛 alone in its police staffing woes. Departments across the country have struggled to fill vacancies since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the The nonprofit surveyed almost 200 police departments and found that hiring was down 5% in 2020, while resignations increased by 18% and retirements increased by 45% from the previous year.

Among the most common reasons for leaving was the public鈥檚 increasingly negative view of policing, which was amplified by high-profile protests. published in 2019 in the International Journal of Police Science & Management, found the most common reasons cops left were job dissatisfaction, frustration with the department, frustration with the justice system and stress.

Retired Sgt. Clifford Sommer worked as a 51黑料 police officer for 25 years and said his career was mostly enjoyable. But as the department lost officers, the workload for remaining cops 鈥渨as too much.鈥�

鈥淚 had really planned to maximize my retirement at 30 years,鈥� Sommer said. 鈥淲hen I weighed the pros and cons of staying or leaving, I probably extended my life by 10 years through eliminating the stress and the constant schedule changes.鈥�

He retired in 2021 and became a sworn officer for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in 51黑料.

Like Sommer, most cops who spoke with the Post-Dispatch said they enjoyed working with their co-workers and felt a calling to improve their communities through policing. But those parts didn鈥檛 outweigh the negatives 鈥� namely dealing with severe understaffing, internal politics and perceived anti-police sentiments from local politicians.

The department鈥檚 top cop, Chief Robert Tracy, refused to talk to the Post-Dispatch about staffing issues or his plans to increase the number of officers on the agency鈥檚 roster.

鈥楶eople who largely don鈥檛 like law enforcement鈥�

Many former 51黑料 police officers described a working environment rife with politicking, both internally and externally.

Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, elected in 2021, campaigned on restructuring the department and reallocating the budget to alternative public safety programs. On her ninth day in office, she moved to reallocate $4 million budgeted for 98 long-vacant police officer positions and spend it on affordable housing, homeless services, a victims鈥� support program and civil rights litigators instead.

But since then, she and other top officials have approved some of the largest raises for police officers in recent memory and ordered a fleet of new take-home cars. The police department鈥檚 budget has increased by at least $9 million since she took office.

Still, officers who spoke with the Post-Dispatch were adamant the administration did not support police, making a tough job harder and leading to low morale and widespread burnout.

鈥淗ere in 51黑料, Kim Gardner and Tishaura Jones and (Deputy Public Safety Director) Heather Taylor were the catalysts that broke the system,鈥� said Roger Murphey, who retired in September 2021 after more than 26 years with the department.

鈥淚t scares me working as a cog in the wheel,鈥� another officer said, 鈥渁nd the people in control of your budget are people who largely don鈥檛 like law enforcement. Who wants to go work in an environment when your local politicians are setting you up for failure and not providing you with the tools you need?鈥�

Jones refused an interview with the Post-Dispatch, but in an email her spokesman Nick Desideri rejected the notion that the mayor doesn鈥檛 support the police, saying she believes in a balanced approach of prevention, intervention and enforcement.

He also contended that pay rates are, in fact, the largest concern expressed by officers in the last several years.

鈥淎nyone with experience working in organized labor can tell you that pay is the top issue every single contract cycle,鈥� he wrote.

When it came to internal dynamics, two officers compared the agency to a high school where rumors and gossip spread like wildfire.

Several officers said they thought the department鈥檚 internal affairs unit was weaponized by arbitrarily enforcing policies and disciplining officers. And most said command staff fosters a toxic environment and are more involved in politics and advancing their own careers than supporting officers. Rising through the ranks became more about 鈥渨ho you know,鈥� said Sommer, the retired sergeant.

鈥淭he promotional system should be changed. Under state control, it was more objective,鈥� Sommer said.

Sommer, along with about half of the officers who spoke with the Post-Dispatch, worked for the department when it was controlled by a five-person board made up of the mayor and four governor appointees.

Officers said the department ran more efficiently then, and the environment was better. And Sommer noted that calling that structure state control can be misleading, as the governor鈥檚 appointees were normally local residents.

Jason Love, who worked for the department for about 24 years, added that resources arrived more quickly then and were less likely to get caught up in red tape.

As morale sank in recent years, Sommer said he began to see something new: His colleagues were quitting just a few years before their 20-year work anniversary, the point at which they could begin collecting a pension.

Murphey said he noticed the same.

鈥淚t didn鈥檛 start happening until Kim Gardner鈥檚 first term,鈥� he said.

Frustration with Kim Gardner鈥檚 office

Officers overwhelmingly blamed the frustrations on Gardner, who was first elected in 2016 and resigned unexpectedly earlier this year.

Cops said her resistance to prosecute criminal cases or hold violent suspects in jail was exasperating, especially when it came to building trust with crime victims.

鈥淎t the end of the day, it鈥檚 frustrating,鈥� said Guzman, who worked in north 51黑料. 鈥淭hose victims are blaming you.鈥�

Several officers said prosecutors would refuse solid cases, even when officers thought the investigation was complete.

Matthew Sprankle, who worked for the department for two years and is now an officer in Illinois, said Gardner 鈥渉indered a lot of people鈥檚 willingness to do a lot of good police work.鈥�

Many officers referenced Gardner鈥檚 exclusionary list, which outlined at least 28 officers from whom her office would no longer accept criminal cases. Some officers told the Post-Dispatch that their co-workers were not informed they were on the list until they applied for charges.

Others, like Murphey, were notified. He said he thinks her office put him on the list in 2017 because of two Facebook posts 鈥� one where he posted 鈥減ro-police鈥� messages and one where he criticized Gardner and then-mayor Lyda Krewson. He was kicked out of the homicide investigation unit two years later. He was given a different reason for the transfer, but he suspects it was because he was on the exclusion list.

鈥淚鈥檇 had enough of it and said, 鈥業 can鈥檛 do my job,鈥欌�� Murphey said. 鈥淚鈥檓 just sitting here collecting dust. 鈥� So I walked in and said, 鈥業鈥檓 retired, I quit.鈥� That鈥檚 what a lot of guys are doing.鈥�

Most officers who spoke to the Post-Dispatch said they believed conditions at the department will improve now that Gardner is gone. New prosecutor Gabe Gore was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson and took office in May.

Chronic staffing shortages

On a recent Sunday night, only three cars were patrolling the first district, a police source told the Post-Dispatch. The district covers a large swath of south 51黑料 and is one of six districts in the city. Another eight police vehicles assigned to the district sat empty, according to the source.

Nearly every officer who spoke with the Post-Dispatch cited chronic understaffing and the resulting workloads as one of the main reasons they left the department.

Guzman, who worked in north 51黑料 for four years, said each district should have about nine cars on the streets. Ideally, two officers would ride in each car. That was rarely, if ever, the case, most cops said.

Guzman was often in a patrol car by herself, leaving her unable to answer radio calls that required two officers or two vehicles.

鈥淭hat leaves a lot of calls waiting in the queue,鈥� Guzman said. 鈥淪hootings, robberies, anything like that 鈥� officers are on those calls for hours.鈥�

One officer, who retired after more than 31 years, said much of the issue is off-street redundancies. She and another cop both noted that commanders鈥� aides are commissioned officers and they, too, have aides who are sworn officers.

Jones would not comment on perceived redundancies because it is a personnel matter, Desideri said, and she trusts the chief to make those staffing decisions.

Austin Huguelet of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.