#slpoa

Jenna Barnes at KSDK: 

ST. LOUIS — After a violent summer in St. Louis, tension is building between police and the woman in charge of prosecuting crimes.

The St. Louis Police Officer’s Association is calling for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to lose her job, and she’s firing back.

"This is a dangerous, dangerous situation she's putting the police officers and the public in and we're calling for an end to it,” spokesman Jeff Roorda said.

He's referring to Gardner's one-word tweet last week, after a deadly officer-involved shooting that started when officers approached a driver with marijuana.

Alderman Megan Green tweeted the interaction never should have happened, and Gardner retweeted it, writing “exactly.”

Gardner's policy is that she won't prosecute cases that involve less than 100 grams of marijuana.

"It was a tweet, and I’m not gonna go into - it's an open investigation. It would be improper for me to comment on an open investigation,” she said. "I did not comment on an open investigation by saying a tweet and one word."

That one word added fuel Roorda's fire.

"He's irrelevant to me because it's not about Kim Gardner. It's about the people of the city of St. Louis," Gardner said.

KMOV: 

ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- The St. Louis Police Officers Association and Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner are publicly sparring Friday after the police union posted on Facebook attacking Gardner for prosecuting cops.

The original post, made Thursday, was accompanied by a photo of an individual who exchanged gunfire with two police officers outside of a bar in April.

David Hunn at STLToday.com: 

Prosecutors and investigators at the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s office voted Monday to unionize.

A majority voted by secret ballot to enter the St. Louis Police Officers Association, SLPOA President Ed Clark said in a statement. The election was held under the supervision of retired federal mediator Richard Horn. The association declined to release the vote count.

The SLPOA represents St. Louis city police officers. St. Louis County police are represented by the St. Louis County Police Association.

The head of the city’s police union slammed Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce on Saturday over her decision to conduct an investigation separate from the ongoing police inquiry into the killing of 18-year-old Mansur Ball-Bey by an officer earlier this week. The teen was shot in the back.

The killing, and the violent confrontation between police and protesters that followed, came less than two weeks after cops and protesters faced off on the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s killing by then Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.

Joyce’s decision is a departure from the usual protocol in which her office would wait until getting the results of the police investigation before conducting its own.

The separate and simultaneous investigations did not sit well with Joe Steiger, president of the St. Louis Police Officers’ Association, who called Joyce’s decision politically motivated.

“Jennifer Joyce’s announcement is a discredit to the members of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department,” Steiger said in a statement.

Steiger also took exception to Joyce making her announcement while standing next to representatives from the NAACP.

“The involved officers welcome an impartial investigation in which the sole purpose is to determine and report the facts of the incident,” Steiger said.

Aligning herself with the civil rights organization,” suggests this investigation is motivated by political appeasement and not the pursuit of truth and justice,” he said.

After hearing of the the police union’s position on Saturday, Joyce said she was having a difficult time understanding why she has come under attack.

“Our announcement clearly indicated the Circuit Attorney’s Office would be conducting the exact same review as under normal protocol; the office is simply beginning immediately and expediting the process,” she said in a statement.

Starting the process immediately won’t change the nature of the review or the approach of the people conducting the investigation, she added.

Despite Steiger’s anger, not everyone in the law enforcement community is upset about the parallel investigations.

St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said he welcomed Joyce’s review, adding that his department is used to conducting joint investigations with other agencies, including the FBI.

“It’s not a problem,” Dotson said earlier this week. “What it does is speeds up the investigative process and the final report, so the public gets answers more quickly, and I think that’s a good thing.”

Dotson has defended his officers since Wednesday’s shooting. But at a press conference Friday, he could not say whether the shooting was justified. He said the facts were still being sought and that it would do no good to rush to judgment.

Two officers fired at Ball-Bey Wednesday during a raid on Walton Avenue near Page Boulevard. Police said he was armed and pointed a gun at them.

Some protesters dismissed the explanation as the standard police narrative following a shooting.

Jeff Roorda's going to end up in big trouble for inciting mayhem. 

Roorda's privilege is that he can assault a POC in front of officers and be "escorted out", while a POC would lose their life. #Ferguson

— Ginny Beastley (@GinnyBeastley) January 29, 2015

This is the woman who was assaulted by Jeff Rooda. This is her injury from the president of the police association. pic.twitter.com/Fv5UJDtaoz

— Alexis (@keenblackgirl) January 29, 2015

Jeff Roorda attacked woman at meeting. He knew what he was doing wearing the #DarrenWilson band. Incitement pic.twitter.com/JCmIW2ihbA

— Shazzarazza (@shazza_razza) January 29, 2015

Jeff Roorda assaulted a woman after the chairperson of the Alderman told him he couldn't tell him how to do his job #Ferguson

— Bassem Masri (@bassem_masri) January 29, 2015

Currently filing a report with St. Louis Metro PD for physical assault that was demonstrated by Police Association president Jeff Roorda

— MAU (@MillennialAU) January 29, 2015

Jeff Roorda got upset with the order of the meeting and physically assaulted a black woman. Do you all see how this directly correlate with police brutality. He is the executive director and business manager of the St. Louis Police Officers Association. When they get upset they can't hold their anger without being violent!!! #Ferguson #NoJusticeNoPeace #BlackLivesMatter #StopPoliceBrutality #TheMovement #TheTruthWontBeOnTv #TheRevolutionWillNotBeTelevised

A video posted by Columbus Short's Gf #TheShorts (@the4th_duck) on Jan 28, 2015 at 5:59pm PST

There u go is that how #STLPD does shit? Pic of union president Jeff Roorda assaulting a woman in #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/nnm0B1g9w5

— Bassem Masri (@bassem_masri) January 29, 2015

SLPOA's Jeff Roorda starting trouble as usual. #Ferguson #JeffRoorda #STL #SLPOA #SLMPD https://t.co/zn4rfszd1L

— Justin Gibson (@JGibsonDem) January 29, 2015

Bassem Masri's USTREAM:

attribution: REUTERS

St. Louis is more racially segregated than many of us ever truly understood. Even the police officers in the city have separate organizations advocating on behalf of white and black interests.

When Jeff Roorda and the predominantly white St. Louis Police Officers Association came out with a statement to blast the pre-game "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" gesture done by five players from the St. Louis Rams and declared that they should be fined, suspended, and offer an apology, it was wrongly assumed by many that Roorda spoke for all of the police in St. Louis. He did not.

The black police officer's association in St. Louis issued a bold statement declaring their complete support for the players. Gloria McCollum, general counsel for their association, just issued the following statement, which you can read below the fold, on their behalf.

THE ETHICAL SOCIETY OF POLICE, is the primary voice of African American Police Officers in St. Louis City, and as such it COMPLETELY SUPPORTS THE ACTIONS OF THE ST. LOUIS RAMS FOOTBALL PLAYERS IN WHICH THEY SHOWED SUPPORT FOR THE FAMILY OF MICHAEL BROWN BY ENTERING THE STADIUM WITH THEIR HANDS UP.

We think that their actions were commendable and that they should not be ridiculed, disciplined or punished for taking a stand on this very important issue which is of great concern around the world and especially in the community where these players work.

THE STATEMENTS OF THE ST. LOUIS POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION DO NOT REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF THE MAJORITY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN POLICE OFFICERS IN THE DEPARTMENT BECAUSE THERE ARE NO AFRICAN AMERICAN OFFICERS ON THEIR GOVERNING BOARD AND THEY HAVE A MINIMAL AMOUNT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MEMBERS.

The Ethical Society of Police has been the primary bridge between [the] African American community and the police department for many years. The Ethical Society will use its best efforts to continue to work with the community leaders and the Department of Justice to address issues that affect our community such as racial profiling, police brutality and disparities in hiring and disciplining practices of African American Officers.

While it is often widely assumed that black and white officers feel the same about issues of race and police brutality, it is clear that this is not the case in St. Louis and that the divide between officers there echoes the deeper divide in the city itself.