June 5, 2025
(St. Louis, MO) – St. Louis City residents Jamala Rogers and Mike Milton, represented by ArchCity Defenders, are challenging the constitutionality of Missouri’s legislative attempt to usurp control of the St. Louis City police department (SLMPD) through House Bill 495. The lawsuit asserts the law violates the Missouri Constitution by imposing special legislation on a singular jurisdiction and by levying an unfunded mandate against City taxpayers.
Under the law, SLMPD is no longer directed by local officials; instead, a board of commissioners, with members appointed by the governor and approved by the state senate, act as SLMPD’s governing body. Additionally, the law requires that the City of St. Louis allocate additional annual funding—over and above the already hefty police budget—to SLMPD.
In addition to the legal claims, this complaint makes clear how this legislation undercuts the will of Missouri voters, jeopardizes local, hard-fought gains for accountability and transparency protocols within SLMPD, and undermines the political will to invest in services that address poverty and inequality.
“Given the context of the current political climate, it’s clear we need to fight harder for the democratic processes that defend citizen participation. We the People are being cut out of the equation—even when we win,” says plaintiff Jamala Rogers, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Organization for Black Struggle. “The unique and often unrestricted authority of police in our society sets it up to be resistant to any change, let alone genuine transformation. Our power lies in the ability to reimagine public safety in the eyes of the communities where we live, work, and play.”
For decades, Rogers, a renowned community organizer, activist, educator, author, and media contributor has dedicated her life to the liberation and prosperity of Black people, and especially children. Throughout her experiences, which include founding and leading racial justice organizations, Rogers has resisted multiple attempts by the state to quash grassroots social movements and economic power.
Mike Milton is an organizer, activist, and founder of Freedom Community Center, a Black-led organization dedicated to dismantling systems of oppression and fostering community-based alternatives to incarceration. In his current role, and previously, Milton and his team at The Bail Project – St. Louis routinely meet individuals trapped in the criminal legal system because they lack support to de-escalate violence, find safe and affordable housing, and achieve economic stability. Through his work, Milton knows the life-altering difference between responding with care and resources versus calling the police.
“SLMPD is one of the deadliest police forces in the country, and state control provides less accountability, not more,” says Milton. “In our work, we learned that real safety doesn’t come from the state. It comes from us, interrupting harm at the root, demanding truth, and keeping power where it belongs, with the community.”
The plaintiffs contend that the Missouri State Legislature is not supposed to make local or special laws that pertain to one specific jurisdiction or place. In recent history, the limitations of “special laws” effectively upended the legislation known as Senate Bill 5, which intended to cap the amount of municipal court fines and fees collected within St. Louis County. Further, HB 495 mandates that the City allocate an increasing amount of its annual budget to the police force, a burden that taxpayers will carry. The lawsuit contends this violates Missouri’s Hancock Amendment—in essence, taxpayers cannot be forced to finance a large-scale, state government operation solely because it is located within their jurisdiction.
In 2012, Missourians mobilized to place local control of SLMPD on the statewide ballot and won.
Between 2013 to 2025, under local control, St. Louisans have wielded influence over SLMPD—establishing a Civilian Oversight Board, Community Control Over Police Surveillance, prompting executive orders, defunding vacant positions, exposing the hypocrisy of internal investigations, scrutinizing the lack of transparency and accountability, challenging bias in news media and court settings, and reporting on misconduct, use of force, and deadly force.
Per the terms of HB 495, the State-appointed Board may unilaterally change any local policy reforms or limitations that have passed in the city.
“As we can see from recent legislative sessions, this is a pattern—of overturning the vision of everyday people who are living and trying to make St. Louis home, despite extreme obstacles,” says Blake Strode, Executive Director of ArchCity Defenders. “Particularly, in this post-tornado landscape, it is clear that public safety means a lot of things: we need money for things like emergency systems, forestry, streets, and housing support for families. Forcing St. Louisans to instead underwrite these narrow and undesired police investments is wrong and unlawful.”
A link to the lawsuit is available here.
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In the past fifteen years, ArchCity Defenders, a holistic legal advocacy organization, has grown from its three founders volunteering part-time to a full-time staff of 36 that provides direct services to people entangled by the legal system while also challenging its inherent injustice through resource provision, representation, litigation, media and policy advocacy, and community organizing.
ArchCity Defenders has filed 56 individual and class action lawsuits between 2014 to 2025 representing thousands of people impacted by direct and systemic abuses sanctioned by local governments and largely carried out by police, within communities, courts, and jails. Spanning eight counties and 20 municipalities, the majority have settled or resulted in policy change and/or damages (in total, defendants have had to pay $27.2 million).
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Media Contact:
Z Gorley, Director of Communications, ArchCity Defenders
zgorley@archcitydefenders.org
(314) 643-2463