This afternoon on my show, we had extensive coverage of the death of police officer Norvelle Brown, who was killed on the streets of St. Louis last night.
Brown was a real hero, a rookie who asked to be assigned to the neighborhood he grew up in, one of the toughest parts of the city. He had received a commendation for bravery just a few months ago. Let’s hope the “stop snitching” attitude that’s prevalant in some communities doesn’t keep people from coming forward with tips that lead to the arrest of the individual(s) responsible for this.
Let’s also hope that once the investigation is complete, there will be a thorough examination of whether a rookie cop in St. Louis should be on patrol by himself. Chief Mokwa says that St. Louis doesn’t have adequate resources to put two officers in every patrol car. Mayor Slay says that if Chief Mokwa tells him he needs more cops, he’ll get more cops. But that’s like Bush saying he listens to his generals. Forget about the politics — with 25% of the police force on the job less than five years and 10% of them with only 1 year of experience, it’s clear that we not only need more cops, but we need more cops who will stay on the job.
And we certainly need more police officers like the late Norvelle Brown.
Listen to my conversation about this with Mayor Slay.