In the wake of the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year and Michael Brown in St. Louis in 2014, the Ethical Society of Police (ESOP) is advocating for reforms.
“It is absolutely horrible that we have to experience another loss of life for people to change in small or big ways and I haven't seen very many changes,” said Shanette Hall, ESOP’s second vice president.
ESOP was founded in 1972 by African-American police officers in Missouri to address discrimination in the community and police department.
The top reforms sought by ESOP are:
Enhancement of Missouri Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission, which includes a wing that investigates police officers and determines whether or not they should be certified or decertified.
“Currently, what we have are two post investigators for some 15,000 officers in the entire state of Missouri,” Hall told the St. Louis Record. “If you have only two people investigating claims of misconduct and unethical behavior, it’s fair to say they are not investigating as much as they could be and they are probably overworked.”
House Bill 38, introduced by Democrat Representative Kevin Windham (District-85) would require the POST Commission to have on its staff at least eight with one investigator for each congressional district throughout the state.
“That may not be as many that are needed in the future but it’s definitely a great jump,” Hall said in an interview.
Mandated recurring psychological exams and testing as a part of hiring for all police officers across the state.
“That would definitely be something that will help us begin to catch when police officers are not necessarily falling in line with that conduct of an officer who should be able to empathetically serve the people that they are supposed to be serving,” Hall said.
ESOP representatives are currently meeting with politicians, such as Rep. Windham, Republican Rep. Shamed Dogan (D-98), and Democrat Senator Brian Williams (D-14), however, no legislation has been written or introduced yet.
“I have heard departments say in the past is that there’s a financial barrier due to cost and they don't want to bear the brunt of that cost to put their officers through psychological and reoccurring psychological exams,” Hall said.
Follow through on fining police departments that are required to report police officers to the POST Commission when they have been terminated for misconduct, unethical behavior, or illegal activity.
“There is no checks and balances within and so there's no mechanism to ensure that departments are absolutely doing what they are supposed to do,” she said. “If information as to why a police officer is terminated is not sent to POST, then there is no investigation started to decertify the police officer and that police officer can be employed at another police department.”
Withdraw the qualified immunity doctrine, which was issued by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in 1967 to prevent public officials, such as judges, police officers, and prosecutors from being sued.
“Lifting qualified immunity would force people in power to begin to look at their actions and how they have a negative impact on certain groups of people,” Hall said. “Historically, those in power have not changed much because of the kindness of their hearts. They change because they are required to do so. Removing qualified immunity would help people in power to change."