ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden now has the blessing of new Mayor Tishaura Jones – after some doubt at first about his future.
Shortly after she took office, Jones would only say she planned to meet with Hayden to discuss his ideas for the department. But now...
"I think Chief Hayden is turning the corner and doing a great job," Jones says. "He has been supportive of the things that I have been proposing. Especially with how we made some changes to his budget."
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Hayden didn't try to block Jones' call for $4 million in cuts from the police budget. She wants to shift the money to crime prevention and social programs.
"I support the mayor's idea to do different things with people that I can't get," Hayden says.
The mayor says a crime-fighting plan is now in the works, one that will involve more cooperation with surrounding departments like St. Louis County.
"I think crime ebbs and flows and sometimes when you present a plan, sometimes things ebb and flow and you have to adjust," Jones says. "Whatever plan that we do put forward, we have to make sure it is flexible, and it's a living and breathing document."
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