Defund SLMPD

We demand our city defund SLMPD overtime and vacant positions, as well as SWAT, ShotSpotter, and the Real Time Crime Center. 

 
 

FUNDING

St. Louis City’s General Fund provides the funding for the majority of City services.

  • For Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, the City budgeted $481.6M for the General Fund.

  • Policing accounted for approximately $172M from the General Fund in the FY21 budget, about 36% of the entire General Fund

  • In a city of ~300K people, the City budgets for 1,871 full time positions within the police department— essentially creating a landscape in which there’s one SLMPD employee to 160 residents

VACANT POSITIONS

  • Since about 2017, SLMPD has had 100-150 vacant positions each year

  • Vacant positions account for a total of ~$10 million in salaries and benefits approved in the FY21 budget

POLICE OVERTIME

  • SLMPD has spent $10,260,323 in overtime for Fiscal Year 2021

  • However, the budget only allocated ~ 8 million

SWAT

  • For Fiscal Year 2021, SLMPD requested $1,207,150 for SWAT including

Real Time Crime Center (RTCC)

  • For Fiscal Year 2021, SLMPD requested $900,318 for the RTCC

  • RTCC is a 24 hour, 365-day surveillance system, with cameras, license plate readers, sensors that can detect and locate gunfire, and seven surveillance trailers

ShotSpotter

  • SLMPD allocated $190,000 for the ShotSpotter program (100% from asset forfeiture)

  • ShotSpotter is a surveillance system using sensors to detect the sound of gunfire. The data is used to monitor, target and proactively patrol areas of the City.

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Our Vision

Despite hundreds of millions of dollars invested in policing each year, St. Louis remains one of the most dangerous cities in America. Our city has some of the highest rates of homicide, violent crime, and killings by police.

Police reforms have failed time and time again. It’s past time we recognize policing does not keep us safe--we keep us safe--and stop giving our dollars to the police.

Rewatch the “Defund” webinar.

The first in a 3-part webinar series about the DRT campaign. In this first event, we examine the city's budget and discuss what we mean by "defund SLMPD."

 
 
 
Next

Re-envision Public Safety