ST. LOUIS 鈥 Local activists filed a lawsuit on Thursday to stop a state board from controlling the 51黑料 police department, marking the latest legal challenge to the takeover law.
Activists Mike Milton of the Freedom Community Center and community organizer Jamala Rogers say the state takeover will derail recent progress in reducing homicides and other crime by funneling more resources to traditional policing at the expense of social programs designed to prevent crime.
鈥淭his bill is unconstitutional, undemocratic and fundamentally immoral,鈥 Milton said at a press conference on Thursday.
The suit, filed by the progressive nonprofit law firm ArchCity Defenders, is the second to be filed attempting to stop the takeover. Last month, Aldermanic President Megan Green filed her own suit, arguing the takeover infringes on her right to free expression, imposes an illegal spending mandate and violates multiple provisions of the state constitution.
People are also reading…
Green did not have the support of Mayor Cara Spencer, who tasked city lawyers with developing their own case, though nothing has been filed.
The activists鈥 suit, filed in Cole County against the state of Missouri and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, makes similar arguments to Green鈥檚.
It says the takeover law, signed by Governor Mike Kehoe in March, violates an amendment to the Missouri constitution prohibiting the state from imposing unfunded mandates on cities. It also argues that it violates a provision prohibiting the state from imposing laws specific to one city.
After the suit was filed, Milton, Rogers, elected officials and representatives from ArchCity gathered at City Hall for a news conference.
Rogers blasted the takeover effort as a way for white Republican lawmakers to unfairly exert power over a city that didn鈥檛 vote for them.
鈥淲e have a state legislature that says, 鈥榃e don鈥檛 care what you want,鈥欌 Rogers said.
Bailey responded in a statement saying it was the activists who were in the wrong. They were trying to subvert the will of elected officials across the state, he said.
鈥淚nstead of filing frivolous lawsuits, this group should focus its efforts on making 51黑料 safer,鈥 he said.
Gov. Mike Kehoe talks about the state takeover of 51黑料 city's police department before signing the bill into law. Video courtesy of the Governor's office, edited by Jenna Jones.
