ST. LOUIS (AP) — Eight years after Michael Brown’s death pushed the St. Louis region front and center into the national debate over police accountability, the city’s elected officials and its police associations are at odds over a new oversight plan. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, a progressive Democrat elected last year in part on her pledge to hold police more accountable, this month signed into law a bill creating a Division of Civilian Oversight, an independent agency to investigate allegations of police misconduct and use of force incidents. Jones, who is Black, said at a news conference before the Aug. 3 bill signing that Black St. Louisans are more than four times more likely to be subjected to force by police than whites.
New oversight plan means closer scrutiny of St. Louis police