The Ethical Society of Police St. Louis County Chapter will host a news conference at 4 p.m., today, in the parking lot of the St. Louis NAACP office on Delmar to address systemic racism in the St. Louis County Police Department.
The group wants county executive Sam Page to sign a memorandum of understanding to acknowledge its existence as an official organization founded in 1972 by African American officers to fight race-based discrimination. It also wants Page to acknowledge that systemic racism exists in St. Louis County, including county government and to develop a structured plan to address the injustice.
ESOP stresses the fact that findings of a 2015 U.S. Justice of Department review of the police department showed it lags behind many departments nationwide when it comes to diversity and inclusion, also noting that St. Louis County police officers have dealt with racial discrimination at every level.
“We have been calling for strongly mandatory cultural competency, and implicit and explicit bias training for all ranks within the department for some time,” ESOP said in a news release this morning.
Speakers at the afternoon’s news conference will include officer Shanette Hall, an ESOP St. Louis County Chapter Board Member, Sgt. Heather Taylor, the group’s president, and attorney William Dailey. You can watch it live on Facebook at facebook.com/EthicalSocietyofPolice.