State Representative Lane Roberts of Joplin held a hearing Thursday on his bill to let the Governor appoint a special prosecutor to handle violent crime in St. Louis. "I've been called an outsider, messing with St. Louis, well I'm not an outsider I'm a Missourian and it's Missourians who are dying and it's just not acceptable."
The former Missouri Director of Public Safety understands some may consider it meddling. "It is true that I don't live in St. Louis, however, I spent my entire adult life in police work," says Roberts. "The idea that we are watching people die because we don't want to be criticized for taking action is equally unconscionable."
Under the measure, the Governor could supersede the authority of the Circuit Attorney when homicides exceed 35 per hundred thousand.
Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner says the bill creates a redundant department without the required relationships, institutional knowledge, experience or criminal justice partnerships, saying it defies logic.
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