Police organizations in St. Louis have separate predominantly white and black organizations

Shaun King

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Monday December 01, 2014 · 12:36 PM PST

2014/12/01 · 12:36

It all makes so much more sense now.

Although it doesn't say so in its name, the St. Louis Police Officers Association, which has staunchly defended Darren Wilson, defamed Mike Brown, and recently called for the suspension of St. Louis Rams football players who showed solidarity with Ferguson, is actually the (White) St. Louis Police Officers Association. African-American officers in St. Louis have their own separate organization that advocates for their needs.

Called the St. Louis Black Police Officers Association until 1975, African-American officers continue to organize separately from their white counterparts in what they now call the St. Louis Ethical Society of Police.

In a strange twist of irony, the head of the African-American police union in St. Louis is a black man named Darren Wilson. In a recent letter he stated:

Our motto is “We are the conscious of the St. Louis Police Department.” We did not come to this motto lightly. We believe that someone has to be willing to stand up and hold our Police Department to the oaths of service that we all have taken.
In fact, our motto is almost like another type of oath. It is a promise—a promise to you that we will be working every day to be the conscious of the St. Louis Police Department.

Considering that the spokesperson for the (white) St. Louis Police Officers Association, Jeff Roorda, was fired as a police officer himself for misconduct and falsifying reports, it makes sense that the black police union feels the need to make ethical policing its focus.

Below the fold is the summary of the history of black police union in St. Louis found on their website.

In 1855 the City of St. Louis formed its first Police Force. However, it was not until 1901 that the first African American Police Officer was appointed.

Even though these brave Black men were appointed to serve as Police Officers they were prohibited from wearing uniforms until 1921. They were also restricted to African-American communities and they were completely denied the authority to arrest White citizens regardless of the crimes they committed.

Despite the enormous racially driven challenges thrust upon the African-American Community by the City of St. Louis, Black men continued to seek out and serve as Law Enforcement Officers. They realized that they had to force themselves into this institution in order to provide some measure of protection for their community.

Unfortunately, the life experience of African-American police officers in St. Louis was not unique. African-American police officers all over the country were being subjected to the same types of racist whims and lawless actions by their fellow white officers. So, thirteen African-American police associations representing New York, Michigan, California, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania New Jersey, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland and Colorado met in St. Louis and out of that meeting, a National Black Police Association was chartered in 1972.

The City of St. Louis was also busy organizing Black Police Officers. In 1968, fifteen African-American police officers started planting the seeds of a Black police officer organization in the city of St. Louis. At this time in our history, some people felt that African-American police officers would never be able to organize in the St. Louis police department. The opposition was so certain that this group of 15 would fail they gave them the name the “Doomed Fifteen.”
Four years later those who doubted the “Doomed Fifteen” were proven wrong. Mr. Norman Seay a noted civil rights leader and President of the Police Affairs committee for the St. Louis branch of the NAACP, became interested in organizing the Black officers. Through his leadership and direction, African-American police officers formally formed the St. Louis Black Police Association within the St. Louis Police Department.

In 1975, the St. Louis Black Police Association concluded that the name of the organization needed to be expanded to include all of the concerns of the St. Louis Black Police Association.

While Black officers were still required to take leadership on the issue of race and racism and proudly did so, the St. Louis Black Police Association understood that there were also other serious issues that required their constant attention and expertise. Black officers wanted their community to view their organization as the true guardians of all aspects of public safety. So, in 1975, the St. Louis Black Police Association decided to incorporate the word Ethics into their name. And in 1991, the organization finalized their commitment to ethics by incorporating as the “Ethical Society of Police.”

The Ethical Society of Police believes that as an African-American organization, the E.S.O.P. is obligated as well as uniquely qualified to monitor and rectify the racial and ethical challenges that confront the St. Louis Police Department.

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Police organizations in St. Louis have separate predominantly white and black organizations

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