St. Louis Police Chief Isom working to rebuild public trust
J.B. Forbes | Post-Dispatch
It’s been about eight months since St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Daniel Isom assumed the top job after former chief Joe Mokwa resigned amid a vehicle towing scandal that led to an ongoing federal investigation.
Speaking downtown last night to the Hispanic Leaders Group of Greater St. Louis, the chief described how his department is working to rebuild trust and its public image.
The St. Louis native talked of how the crime rate is down 30 percent in the last 2 1/2 years and down almost 7 percent this year. Yet a rise in robberies and aggravated assaults that he attributed partially to the economic downturn along with homicides are commanding special attention.
The group of mostly Hispanic community leaders and non-profit professionals were keenly interested in whether the department probes into the immigration status of those who make police reports or are crime victims.
“We really don’t have time for that,” he told the crowd. “We have a lot to deal with.”
The chief said the department is charged with assisting everyone in need. If a criminal investigation ensues and the police discover that an accused criminal is illegally in the country, they follow procedures to report the person to the federal authorities.
Many groups of people are loath to report crimes in the city _ African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics and other immigrants, he said. Often fear of criminals retaliating is the factor rather than mistrust of police officers. Hence, the department’s continuing efforts to create “an image that fosters trust.”
Maria Teresa Maldonado, chair of HLG, told the chief that many Spanish-speaking immigrants come from countries where police are not trusted, so they are reluctant to come forward.
Community leaders lauded the St. Louis PD stance on immigration status while condemning other policies by smaller police departments in St. Charles and St. Louis counties in which questioning about non-criminals’ status dissuades people from reporting crime.
The chief said some existing ways to report crime without fear such as the anonymous hotline (314) 241 COPS and the St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers (866 371 8477) need greater awareness in the growing Spanish-speaking community.
The community urged the department to hire more bilingual officers to work in areas with an increasing number of immigrants and to create a bilingual spokesperson to work with Spanish-language media.
“The area is changing much more rapidly than we have understood,” he said, including an increasing number of Bosnian, Asian and other immigrants moving to the city.
His message was well received: everyone in the city would get equal police treatment when reporting crimes. To do otherwise, would be bad for the overall health of the city.
Gilbert Bailon has been editor of the P-D editorial pages since November 2007. Previously, he worked as a reporter, editor and executive editor for The Dallas Morning News and its daily Spanish-language newspaper, Al Dia. He still harbors a passion for all things Tex-Mex: food, music, language, boots and border culture. And yes he has found some of that in the Midwest. 
To be a victim of a crime all a person need be is a human being. If we take the blinders off it is obvious that a large percentage of victims played at least a small part in their own crime. Of course this does not excuse the criminal it just states that many victims place themselves in a position to be violated. We have a right to our liberty but if we leave ourselves open to attack one too many times we become our own worst enemy. This being said it follows that no one is perfect not even the legal community. They have faults that effect us all. The fact that ST. Louis University just received a large contribution from the Brewery and provides many legal scholars to the St. Louis legal community speaks volumes. How can we trust a system the proliferates alcohol abuse while claiming to treat it. Remember Josh Hancock he is dead and all that was important was defending alcohol distribution in St. Louis. Well intended police are quickly corrupted in St. Louis given the alcohol trade, toxic waste, and low standard of living. Many people are being forced to reside in that inhospitable environment due to government supported financial oppression. These folks only have alcohol dealers to look up to that is what they are motivated by the high life. This will not change in the near future regardless of personnel changes.
You gotta love it. The new Chief says crime is down, except for murders, aggravated assaults, and robberies (not to mention the fact that it is now perfectly OK to break immigration laws). Wow, I feel safer already.
The best way to build rapport with citizens is to ensure safe streets. The biggest victims of crime are those living in poor neighborhoods. I find it disturbing that the top cop of a major US city (though not the only one, by all means) publicly states that his department has no interest in enforcing the law of the land. It’s also sad that so-called “community leaders” are praising Isom’s refusal to uphold the law.
Since when has it become acceptable to pick and choose which laws are enforcable and which are not? Do the rest of us now get to ignore whatever laws we find inconvenient? Are we now defined as a people by whatever group (”community”) we belong to, each with its own demands and privileges? The Balkanization of America continues unabated.
Good luck with that agenda! You might consider hiring officers that can be trusted instead of a bunch of thugs looking to make a name for themselves.
You can’t trust a cop, never talk to a cop! They are not your friend and they will lie if it suits their purpose.