ST. LOUIS – A new effort is underway to give St. Louis government workers a way to leave and make it easier to hire police.
New legislation has been introduced in the board of aldermen to let voters decide whether to keep the residency rule, requiring those who work for city government to live in the city.
Police have a special exemption – they can leave the city after 7 years.
But Mayor Lyda Krewson and some aldermen say it’s harder to hire police officers to come work here because they don’t want to relocate. The city has a shortage of about 138 officers.
There have been several efforts to overturn the law, including Mayor Krewson’s plea to the state legislature to scrap it.
Alderman Joe Vacarro says he’s confident that he has the support to pass the measure this time where similar attempts have failed.
