The St. Louis Police Officers’ Association would like to congratulate the newly selected Chief, Robert Tracy. The Association is looking forward to working with him and we are glad this process has come to an end. We are pleased there will finally be some stability in the Chief’s office.
Chief Tracy is facing many challenges within the community and with crime but he will also take the helm of the department during a staffing crisis with all-time low numbers for officers and support staff alike. In addition, Chief Tracy is dealing with a serious recruitment and retention problem that stems mostly from the huge pay disparity between our officers and the officers from other departments in the surrounding area.
We are encouraged by what we’ve heard from Chief Tracy thus far. We are optimistic that he will address officer morale and we are pleased by his willingness to engage with our Police Association, along with the other police leadership groups, to help this City and this department move forward. We stand ready to assist in making this a smooth transition for him and we are excited about the opportunity to work with him going forward.
