St. Louis has a police problem. In some of its wealthiest neighborhoods, uniformed police officers, riding in SUVs marked “police,” are being offered bonuses for investigating crimes and arresting criminals. But the offers aren’t coming from their department, but from a private security company called The City’s Finest. That’s just one of the details uncovered in an investigation published in ProPublica this week by St. Louis-based reporter Jeremy Kohler. Kohler joins St. Louis on the Air to discuss his findings, and what the spread of these private security forces says about the state of policing in St. Louis.
St. Louis on the Air