Is SLMPD #1 at Being Sued?
By Z Gorley, with research contributions from Elizabeth Franklin and editorial support from Johnny Wu Gabbert
May 14, 2026
Last fall, ArchCity Defenders learned there were 70 pending civil lawsuits against the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD).
That number surfaced through one of the cases we brought on behalf of a family whose father, Don Clark, Sr., was killed in his home by SLMPD and SWAT officers in 2017. And, subsequently, a broader question emerged: Now that the State of Missouri has taken control of SLMPD, who is ultimately responsible for settlement payments involving the City’s police force?
After this figure came to light, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Tony Messenger highlighted the revelation in a column titled “A Shocking Revelation: 70 Pending Court Cases against St. Louis Police.”
This number raised another question for us:
How unusual is this?
In cities comparable to St. Louis in both population and geographic size*, how does 70 pending lawsuits compare?
To find out, we contacted police departments in ten cities across the country:
- Orlando, FL
- St. Petersburg, FL
- New Orleans, LA
- Greensboro, NC
- Newark, NJ
- Buffalo, NY
- Cincinnati, OH
- Cleveland, OH
- Toledo, OH
- Pittsburgh, PA
We have called, emailed, submitted public records requests, and researched publicly available court databases to identify pending civil cases.
So far, we have definitively heard back from three departments:
- Orlando Police Department: 15 pending cases
- St. Petersburg Police Department: 17 pending cases
- New Orleans Police Department: 28 cases**
In Greensboro, through searches via PACER and North Carolina’s Judicial Branch records, we have identified at least eight pending lawsuits against the Greensboro Police Department.
We have also completed payment for records from the New Orleans Police Department and are currently awaiting those documents.
Anyone who has submitted record requests likely knows these processes can take time. Though we hoped to have more complete data by now, we also recognize that this information matters in the present moment, especially in light of the State’s Board of Police Commissioners demanding more and more of St. Louis taxpayers’ money to fund SLMPD and the staggering number of lawsuits against it.
SLMPD already receives the largest share of St. Louis City’s budget, yet the department continues to seek additional tax dollars—funding increases that could eviscerate city positions and jeopardize already insufficient spending on essential programs like Right to Counsel (legal representation for individuals facing eviction), violence prevention, and tornado recovery.
On May 11, the Board of Police Commissioners (the body that oversees SLMPD) sued the City of St. Louis for additional funding. This is on top of their already staggering budget requests, which range from $250,000,000 to $333,000,000 for fiscal year 2027. (In comparison, SLMPD was allocated $208.4 million last year.)
This also comes as we approach the one-year anniversary of the EF-5 tornado that devastated historically Black neighborhoods in North St. Louis, communities from which the City has chronically divested in every way except for criminalization. Since the tornado hit, neighborhood residents and organizations like The People’s Response, For the Culture STL, Freedom Community Center, Diamond Divas, Restoring Love, 314 Oasis, and others sustained relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts, while the City’s inadequate response has only deepened residents’ distrust in institutions that have long failed them.
Looking Ahead
We will continue pursuing these outstanding requests and sharing updates as more information becomes available; and we invite others to investigate, too. But even with the limited data we have so far, this much is clear:
In at least two comparable cities, the number of pending lawsuits against their police departments is only a fraction of what St. Louis is facing.
The costs of policing show up in a multitude of ways. All too often, the human costs are evident when police harm or kill some of the most vulnerable people in our city. The financial costs follow in the lawsuits and settlements that come after. These harms and their inevitable costs do not emerge in isolation; they stem from policymakers’ conscious choices to continually bankroll SLMPD. Such outcomes are avoidable when we choose to invest differently.
As decisions continue to be made about next year’s budget and the Rams settlement, will elected officials make courageous choices to fund futures that their constituents are adamantly calling for? Regardless, one thing will stay true: We remain committed to our clients—people who have survived state-sanctioned terror and await some semblance of justice and closure amid long legal battles where procedural disputes too often overshadow the human harm at the center of their experiences.
get involved
In the coming weeks, St. Louis residents will have opportunities to speak out about the future of our city and how public dollars should be spent.
Join the growing coalition of St. Louisans demanding transparency, accountability, and investments in the resources communities actually need:
- Friday, May 15 @ City Hall | All in for North City rally
- Saturday, May 16 @ Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club | Budget Hearing
- Wednesday, May 20 @ International Institute | Budget Hearing
- Wednesday, May 27 @ City Hall, Room 2008 and virtual | Budget Hearing
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Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to Elizabeth Franklin, a volunteer with ArchCity Defenders, and a student at Dillard University, who contributed to this research; and to Johnny Wu Gabbert, Deputy Communications Director, for editing support.
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*For the most part, we selected cities that closely match St. Louis in population size and geographic footprint, although some, such as New Orleans, Greensboro, and Orlando, exceed St. Louis in scale.
**This is an estimate based on the records we received and reviewed.