ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) — Some St. Louis County police chiefs say their communities will see longer response times and won't know their police officers, should there be a merged city-county police department.
Ellisville Chief Steve Lewis is one of them.
"The type of policing we do and the responsiveness to the community is quite frankly what the Ellisville citizens expect," Lewis told KMOX's Charlie Brennan Monday morning. "There's no question there needs to be some changes to law enforcement, particularly in those areas where there's a higher need. Taking from resources out of one community is not the answer."
Florissant Chief Tim Lowery says his officers usually get to the scene two minutes after the call goes out.
"You won't have the response time (with this merger). When it got leaked out they were going to take the Florissant Police Department away, I had so many calls and emails from citizens just in outrage."
He also says municipal officers are in the same community each day, and get to know residents.
Listen to Charlie Brennan's full conversation with Chiefs Lewis and Lowery here: