Statement of St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa

Tuesday, June 22, 2008 

Hello. I first want to apologize for my delay in speaking with you about the questions raised by media reports involving business dealings between a private towing firm and this department.

I have been silent at the direction of the Board of Police Commissioners. And because there is a call for another investigation into the facts and circumstances of this issue, I must limit what I say here today.

These last five days have been troubling and difficult for me. Not because I've done  
anything wrong, but because of the misinformation presented and the innuendo created.
 
I've done nothing wrong, and I have been forthcoming and explicit with all the information requested of me.
 
In the last 24 hours my credibility has been questioned specifically because of the lengths I went in order to be thoroughly forthcoming about both the facts I knew and my own speculation about what I could have known had I recognized signs and symptoms.

In all instances I have been truthful in my responses and conversations.
I will continue to be truthful and cooperate fully in further investigations, which I encourage and I welcome.
 
But I regret this issue has set up  a counterproductive antagonism in place among people and departments that need to be  working  together for the good of the city.
 
There are two issues in play.
One is the city's contract with S&H Towing -- a contract first entered into back in 1990 to
augment the limited service then available from the city's own towing service.
 
The board of police commissioners recently ended its 18-year business relationship with S&H, and the city has promised to handle the Police Department's substantial towing needs.
 
The S&H contract with the city was in place long before I became chief of police in 2001.
 
The other issue is whether I used my power of my office in any way to help my daughter
obtain special deals from this towing contractor.
 
I love my daughter and have great compassion for her personal struggles, but I would not and have not done anything to help her in her personal dealings with S&H nor with its salvage car sales business, Parks Auto Sales.
 
Earlier this year Warren County authorities told me they had stopped my daughter on a
traffic violation in 2006 and her car was listed in the computer as having been held as
evidence by the St. Louis Police Department.
 
I notified board president Chris Goodson and I later learned her automobile and hundreds of others had been properly disposed of according to state statutes but that the clerical errors had failed to remove those vehicles from the police department records.
 
Also, over this past weekend, in my effort to ensure that I had shared every possible detail with Colonel Goodson, I told him I feared that I had failed to recognize the
significance of information that had surfaced in 2002 when my daughter had an accident
 in a car involving S&H. That was my mistake. And in the context of all the disturbing
 issues with my daughter, I did not recognize that there was any further relevancy to this.
 
I'm sorry for my error in judgment.
 
Questions have been raised about how long for or how much control I should exercise over the life and actions of my adult daughter who is now in her mid 30s. The chaos   created in our family's life over her emotional and substance abuse issues, along with those of her husband, who left the force, led me a long time ago  to deliberately disengage  myself from her life except for the health and well-being of her three children, my grandchildren.
 
I will tell you in hindsight, that I wish I had recognized warning signals in the chaos that has long characterized her life.
 
I suspect that many people have independently taken pity on her and have tried to help her get her life in order. While I appreciate the kindnesses extended to her, as any parent would, those were offered without any participation from me.
 
Over the years I have faced many family crisises involving my daughter. I have had to make many difficult decisions regarding her care -- decisions that I wouldn't wish on any parent, but never once did I facilitate, arrange or otherwise help her obtain car loans or make purchases from S&H or Parks.
 
My daughter and her husband, who previously worked in the district where S&H is located, had their own relationships and made their own arrangements without any direct or indirect help from me. I have done nothing wrong or improper.
 
I will not risk my personal reputation, my own integrity or the integrity of the department
for any personal or family gain.

I know that you have many questions for me and I would like to answer.
I have always prided myself on the openness to questions and candidness. But because there is a call for another investigation, I must respect that process and say nothing further at this time.
 
Thank you very much.