The Forum

A review of the legislation, lawsuits, and budget disputes that have altered the structure and administration of public safety in St. Louis since 2025.

The public safety landscape in St. Louis has undergone a dramatic shift over the last year. Since March of 2025, legislators have written and advanced initiatives that have completely overhauled governance of policing and law enforcement operations in the city. Though St. Louis has struggled for decades with a reputation for being one of the most dangerous cities in the country, data released from multiple research studies in recent years indicate significant decreases in crime rates across the city.

According to statistics gathered by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD), the first quarter of 2025 saw the lowest incidents of homicides in the city since 2005. In addition, the number of cases for burglary, robbery, auto thefts, gun violence, property damage, and assaults were also shown to have dropped drastically. 

Even with the reports of crime reduction throughout the city, elected officials have been enacting a steady stream of legislation that has worked to structurally realign all aspects of public safety in St. Louis.

Beginning with HB 495, a trend ensued in which lawmakers began crafting sweeping public safety initiatives to reshape policing in St. Louis and throughout Missouri. One of the most controversial aspects of the seminal HB 495 was the way in which it removed control of the SLMPD from local authority of the mayor and city administration to state control by a governor-appointed Board of Police Commissioners (BOC).

HB 495 created almost immediate tension between City of St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer and the Board of Aldermen (BOA) and Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe and his appointed Board of Police Commissioners (BOC). Between early 2025 and June of this year, several key pieces of legislation have worked to reshape how law enforcement is governed and operates in St. Louis.  

A Timeline: Public Safety Terrain Shifts Dramatically in the City of St. Louis

March 2025

Missouri legislature approves and passes HB 495, removing SLMPD from local control and returning the agency to state authority. The bill is signed into law by Governor Mike Kehoe. Additionally, HB 495 creates new criminal offenses, expands existing offenses, increases policing power and tools to enforce laws, while broadening police jurisdiction and immunity and decreasing liability for law enforcement. HB 495 also enshrines mandatory minimum police funding levels requiring the city to spend 24%-25% of general revenue on policing annually.

April 2025

The City of St. Louis and BOA President Megan Green file a lawsuit in federal court challenging the authority of the state to take control of SLMPD by repealing legislation for local control which was enacted by a 64% majority of Missouri voters in 2012.

June 2025

ArchCity Defenders files suit against the state of Missouri on behalf of civil rights activist, community advocate and residents of the City of St. Louis Jamala Rogers and Mike Milton. ArchCity Defenders argues on behalf of Rogers and Milton that HB 495 imposes special legislation on the city of St. Louis and creates an unfunded mandate, violating the Missouri Constitution.

August 2025 -September 2025

Transition process begins for Governor Kehoe to make appointments for his BOC and transfer authority of SLMPD over to the state.

Mid-2025 to 2026

Uncertainty around state takeover persists as City of St. Louis continues to operationalize its Comprehensive Public Safety Strategy.

March 2026

MO House passes HB 3231 (Missouri Innovation, Public Safety, and Accountability Act) authorizing cities throughout the state to create “innovation zones.”

The bill also addresses staffing shortages, establishes tuition waivers and Fast Track Workforce Incentive Grants for public safety personnel and their dependents.

April 2026

Comprehensive public safety and criminal justice reform initiative HB 2637 is passed and combined with HB 3155 modifying, repealing, and establishing more than several statutes. Primary focus of the legislation are prosecutorial and administrative changes including establishing provisions for mandatory fingerprinting and certification of juveniles as adults, fixed parole eligibility and creation of funding paths for construction of new detention facilities.  

Board of Police Commissioners present their $250M budget proposal to City of St. Louis Mayor Spencer. The City of St. Louis maintains that the BOC proposal is approximately $50M more than the city can reasonably afford without potentially “catastrophic consequences” for other city departments.  

Mayor Spencer files a lawsuit challenging the legislation which mandates state takeover of SLMPD. Key to the lawsuit is the Mayor and City of St. Louis BOA position that the police board’s funding proposal is unconstitutional as it requires unfunded mandates.

May 2026

The BOC defy a subpoena served by the St. Louis BOA, refusing to attend a budget meeting where they’ve been asked to explain their $250M funding proposal.

The BOC files a lawsuit against the City of St. Louis demanding an additional $68M in funding, alleging the city miscalculated the total amount of general revenue when determining funds available for funding policing for the fiscal year. The BOC maintain that Rams settlement funds should be included in general revenue for the year, which would significantly increase the city’s funding total for the police department.

June 2026

A judge in Cole County rejects BOA President Megan Green’s challenge to the state takeover of SLMPD, leaving at least two other legal challenges to state takeover still pending.

Both the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District and the Missouri Supreme Court deny the BOC’s request for an additional $67.6M in funding from the City of St. Louis. The City of St. Louis is now able to finalize the budget for fiscal year 2027.

Other Significant Highlights and Implications of Public Safety Legislation (HB 495)

Law enforcement is now required to systematically report the citizenship/immigration status of all arrested individuals to the state. This will likely increase detention/deportations of individuals with unresolved citizenship/immigration status.

The definition of “rioting” has been expanded. The threshold for a felony charge is lowered. The requirement to prove conspiracy has been removed from the law. A group assembled with as few as 6 people could end up charged with felony crimes. Civil rights advocates argue these changes in the law are a direct attack on First Amendment rights, free speech and the right to assembly. Criminalization of peaceful protest is a major concern.  

Police protections have been expanded during surveillance activities and covert/undercover operations and enforcement. Police vehicles are now permitted to forgo audible or visual signals when conducting surveillance or speed enforcement. Critics argue that this removes a critical check on police power and increases the risk of unaccountable, dangerous maneuvers. This increases the chances of severe injuries or deaths.  

What becomes evident to anyone who reviews more complete texts of any of the public safety legislation passed since January of 2025, is that none of the legislation are a singular bill which simply updates SLMPD policy. Each of these recently passed public safety bills in itself, is a complex, multilateral mandate which reconfigures core components of the public safety landscape.  

To be clear, HB 495, HB 3231, HB 2637, and HB 3155 work together to change policing in St. Louis and Missouri on a foundational level, stripping power from the local community and centralizing control at the state level. These bills intersect to collectively expand mechanisms for surveillance, and increased criminalization and punishment, while simultaneously eroding democratic engagement, and dissolving systems of citizen led oversight of police activities.

Just as tectonic plates shift and create massive geological disturbances across vast lengths of the earth’s crust, so too have these initiatives created seismic chain reactions. Almost immediately, the outcomes of these major changes in policing have reshaped debates and inspired litigation requiring all sides to determine how best to implement the new laws. Neither the debates nor the litigation appears to be slowing any time soon. 

Court documents for each of the lawsuits discussed in this article are available on the Missouri State Court’s website which can be accessed at: https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/welcome.do

Access legislative documents discussed in this article at the following websites.

SLMPD Crime Statistics: www.slmpd.org./stats

Missouri House of Representatives website:  https://house.mo.gov

Missouri Senate website: https://www.senate.mo.gov/SenateHome

Missouri official site for Revised Statutes (RSMo):  https://revisor.mo.gov/main/Home.aspx

Stay informed. Follow The Forum’s continued coverage and analysis of public safety legislation, funding, and implementation in the St. Louis Region.