R.J. Matson/Post-Dispatch

In the past 11 months, nine current or former St. Louis police officers have been charged with federal or state crimes. Four others have been publicly charged by the department with falsifying search warrant information or police reports.

Federal authorities are believed to still be investigating the Police Department’s ties with a downtown towing company that may have short-changed the city $700,000 in fees. A former police detective has pleaded guilty to a federal mail fraud charge in a scheme involving the towing company. That scandal led to the resignation of former Police Chief Joe Mokwa in 2008.

An internal investigation into whether officers were inventing “confidential informants” to get prosecutors to issue arrest warrants led to a lawsuit by the St. Louis Police Officers Association. In September, a judge ruled that officers must disclose the identity of informants to their superiors. But that ruling was made only after prosecutors began throwing out or reviewing hundreds of cases in which warrants were challenged.

There has been controversy over the terms of “secondary employment,” the off-duty jobs that many officers work, and whether officers are held accountable by the department for their conduct when they’re off the department clock.

The next shoe to drop will be the release next week of a state audit of the department’s business operations. Chief Daniel Isom, who has seen the audit’s preliminary results, refused to characterize them, but said he is “comfortable” that the department already is addressing the problems it found.

And, oh yes, the city’s aging police headquarters on Clark Street needs $100 million in repairs.

In all, it’s been a difficult first year for Mr. Isom, who took office in October 2008 — he was even on crutches for a while after tearing up a knee playing basketball. With all of the department’s problems, we asked him last week in a meeting with Post-Dispatch editors and reporters, if he worried that public confidence in the department has suffered.

“To the contrary,” he replied. “I have people, business people and regular citizens, coming up to me all the time and saying, ‘Hey, you guys are doing a great job.’ They’re glad we’ve elevated the standards, trying to hold people accountable.”

Still, he said, “it’s clear there have to be significant changes. A very small portion of our officers believe the ends [getting convictions] justify the means.”

Mr. Isom said, “Not to make excuses, but a system where you make 30 arrests and maybe get eight convictions seems like a revolving door. But it’s not an excuse for skirting the law.”

Within each of the nine police districts, he estimated there are “maybe five” officers who take short cuts — whether it’s misconduct, corruption or lying in an official capacity. “I tell all our recruits that this kind of thing can have a devastating impact, a spiraling effect that will affect 50 people or a thousand or five thousand people,” he said.

Management theorists say that within any organization there exists a culture that seeks to protect the organization against outsiders. No matter how much people within the organization — whether it’s a bank, a sports team, a presidential administration or even a newspaper — gripe among themselves, they tend to band together against outside critics.

Among police organizations, multiple studies have been done of what’s called the “blue code” or the “blue wall of silence.” Cops stay loyal to other cops. Ironically, police officers complain about the “no snitching” culture on the streets — people are shot dead and “nobody knows nothin’.”

So it’s entirely possible that in each of the nine city police districts, many officers — including commanders — may have a pretty good idea who the five guys are who take shortcuts. Still, Mr. Isom said, there’s a “small, strong culture” that believes that getting bad guys off the streets sometimes may make shortcuts OK.

“It’s always been a problem,” Mr. Isom said of the “blue wall.” But he said he has made personal appeals to the department’s officer — everyone from lieutenant colonels to probationary officers — to come forward if they know of wrongdoing, and “and I’ve heard from a lot of them.”

Mr. Isom says he is confident that “99 percent” of the city’s officers do their jobs honestly. The department is aggressively trying to weed out its problems. Crime rates were down 9 percent overall in the city last year, even though the murder total of 167 was up 21 percent.

Total crime was down another 5.2 percent through September of this year; 98 murders were committed, as compared with 136 for the first nine months of 2008. So on the streets, where it counts the most, the department is doing an outstanding job.

The audit to be released next Thursday is expected to show plenty of room for improvement in the administrative operations. The department will have to find money to repair or replace its 81-year-old headquarters building.

But St. Louis can be confident in its police department. It is not without problems, but it is aware of them and willing to confront them. That is all that can be asked.