Quincy Troupe and Sgt Gary Wiegert on St. Louis Police Pensions

[palatables]

St. Louisans have a right to control their own police force. If we are a violent city, if we have a crime problem, then who can we blame but the state that has been in control of our police for the past 150 years. So what if it is a money grab? I'd rather look over the shoulder of my alderman than try to see Jeff City from my house.

[palatables]

None of this even remotely matters. What matters is that St. Louis had local control taken from them in 1861 by a state government that was trying to secede form the Union. St. Louis was a place where pro-emancipation sentiment was strong. The Governor at the time wanted to silence them and keep St. Louis from foiling his plans to overtake the arsenal for the South.