SPONSOR: Windham
COMMITTEE ACTION: Voted "Do Pass" by the Special Committee on Criminal Justice by a vote of 9 to 0.
This bill specifies that the Director of the POST Commission must employ at least one full-time investigator for each Congressional district in the state.
PROPONENTS: Supporters say that this would require Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission to have one investigator per Congressional district. Currently, they have two investigators total. A complaint filed with POST will cause the investigator to gather all evidence and be presented to the Director of Public Safety. Over the past five years, there have been about 200 cases a year filed. Eight might not necessarily be the right number but choosing congressional districts seems like a great place to start. POST does not want to do everything like investigating and prosecuting so they give authority to the Attorney General s Office to be the prosecutor. Increasing to eight is a modest measure. We need more swift action to get law enforcement officers who should not be on the streets off the street and swift action for those who should be. Promotes prioritizing justice under the law for all.
Testifying for the bill were Representative Windham; Susan Gibson; Hannah Roos; Karen Sholes; American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri; Nancy J Bates; Jan Schumacher; Eva Santiago; and Shanette Hall, Ethical Society of Police.
OPPONENTS: Those who oppose the bill submitted written testimony, which can be found online.
Testifying against the bill were Arnie C.Dienoff;
Written testimony has been submitted for this bill. The full written testimony can be found under Testimony on the bill page on the House website.
Statutes affected: