(This article just hit today's print copy of West Newsmagazine.)
“We have a unique opportunity in the police department to assign a police officer full-
time to the St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy,” Ellisville Police Chief
Steve Lewis explained to the City Council on Dec. 7.
Lewis was looking to gain approval from the Ellisville City Council for that action and for permission to hire a replacement for the Academy-assigned officer. He noted that the dual opportunity would actually allow the police department to be fully staffed and save money on its salaries while aiding in the training of future officers.
“This opportunity entails his full salary and benefits be paid for by the Police Academy (funded through St. Louis County tax dollars),” Lewis explained. “We pay them and they reimburse us every month. So there’s zero dollar impact on our department.
Lewis was looking to gain approval from the Ellisville City Council for that action and for permission to hire a replacement for the Academy-assigned officer. He noted that the dual opportunity would actually allow the police department to be fully staffed and save money on its salaries while aiding in the training of future officers.
“This opportunity entails his full salary and benefits be paid for by the Police Academy (funded through St. Louis County tax dollars),” Lewis explained. “We pay them and they reimburse us every month. So there’s zero dollar impact on our department.
“The benefits to this are: 1) It will allow for movement within our agency, and 2) we get the prestige of having an Academy instructor review recruits as they go through (and) impact recruits; and the training that’s conducted in the St. Louis region at that Academy will have an Ellisville stamp on it with an Ellisville officer involved in that training. It will also allow us to bring another officer into our staff and will add an additional $6,000 into our department annually in savings because whoever we replace him with will make considerably less money even through the promotions required to fill the position.”
Lewis has an officer in mind, a lieutenant. He added that there would be no negatives in sending the anonymous lieutenant to the Academy because he is in the twilight of his career and part of the agreement is that if he comes back to Ellisville, he will no longer retain the rank of lieutenant.
Mayor Mike Roemerman asked if having an Ellisville officer on staff would give the city the benefit of a first look at candidates coming out of the Academy.
“One of the huge benefits to us is that he is going to be in charge of every recruit class, and therefore … he can definitely see the progress, see how they’re doing in the Academy and the big sales pitch is, quite frankly, every new police officer who comes through the St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy will have an Ellisville police influence on them. So, not only do people learn through osmosis how great we are, but I’ll actually have a guy down there who, although his first job won’t be recruiting, (will) absolutely have first look at the ability to identify potential solid Ellisville police officers.”
Lewis later added that not only is the Academy position a prestigious one, but that the assigned officer “will receive training as an instructor in multiple disciplines, which can then be brought back to Ellisville.”
The council agreed to that. The council also unanimously agreed to pass an ordinance for the contract with the county.
“I find this to be a creative way of advancing your police department and possibly finding us new recruits,” council member Dan Duffy (District 3) said. “I want to congratulate you on that. At the end of your note, you talked about in the future wanting to add a new officer, and I am definitely in favor of that. As you know from our discussion when you first came on, that it’s a very high priority to me and as a council, the sooner we advance that the better.
“We have very little crime here in Ellisville. Criminals that have some brains know that we respond very quickly and professionally. Your CPU (Community Policing Unit) officer has a great relationship with many of the residents and children in the city of Ellisville, and you’re to be congratulated for advancing that cause, too. It’s far and away the most effective way to maintain lawful residents and businesses.”
Lewis is no stranger to effective policing, especially when it comes to West St. Louis County.
Though he began his career as an officer with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, he went to work for Chesterfield Police four years later. There, he served for 24 years in a variety of capacities before being sworn in as Ellisville’s Chief of Police on May 17, 2017.
Lewis also serves on the Police Academy Board of Managers and board of the Major Case Squad. In September 2021, Lewis earned the Dan Linza Eagle Award as a top member of the FBI National Academy in the realm of its mission to serve and protect U.S. citizens. Lewis served as president of the National Academy Eastern Missouri Chapter in 2019.
So perhaps it’s not surprising that Lewis was chosen to be the keynote speaker at the Police Academy graduation at the Maritz Auditorium on Dec. 15. Training for the officers in that class had begun six months earlier on June 27, 2022. Lewis taught their class on ethics.
Of his keynote address, he said, “I spoke about the concept of the thin blue line and what it truly means to me as well as the need for ethical policing as in doing the right thing when no one is watching. Also, being responsible to the communities that we serve and never forgetting that we all got into this profession with one goal in mind: That is to help people most often at some of the worst times of their lives.”
In talking with West Newsmagazine after that event, Lewis noted that keeping those goals in mind can assist officers throughout their careers. But he also addressed some of the challenges faced by today’s police officers compared to just a decade ago and how hard it is to find new recruits.
“There is a significant lack of persons who want to be police officers in society,” Lewis said. “Much of this stems from the negativity of the vocal minority who have tried to push an anti-police mentality.
“I believe that most people understand that defunding the police is a bad idea and not even really related to what many of the people who called for it believe. What is needed is the funding of alternative programs, mental health response and alcohol/drug addiction programs. That cannot come at the cost of losing police officers.”
That said, Lewis added that he truly believes that the vast majority of people in our society still respect the police but it’s often the vocal minority whose words and actions are followed by the media.
However, its not just the words, or even the actions, of the vocal minority that is causing a shift in policing.
Economics also plays a major part of the equation, Lewis said. Oftentimes, communities are unwilling to pay a good, fair salary for quality police services. He added that when he became a police officer in 1989, it took three times his salary to buy a middle class home. It now takes four to five times the salary of current officers to buy that same home.
He noted that police departments are competing for a limited number of new recruits and cities must be willing to offer pay and benefits to entice the best of the best.
Of the 16 recent Academy graduates, only three will be serving on municipal forces in West St. Louis County. Officers Adam Krueger and Trevor Keathley are serving in Chesterfield while Officer Patrick Wixted is serving in Creve Coeur. Six of the graduates are now members of the County Police Department, four have been hired by University City and one each are on the Ferguson, Hazelwood and Pacific forces.
According to salary.com, the average police officer salary in the St. Louis region is $60,600 as of Nov. 23, 2022; the range typically falls between $56,700 and $66,000. This data is confirmed by data released in May 2021 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which noted that the annual mean wage for police officers in Missouri was $56,610.
While money certainly plays a role in attracting police recruits and retaining quality officers, a far-more critical issue is the overall stress on officers and their families.
Lewis noted that the proliferation of guns and violence makes the officer’s job far more dangerous than ever before, which is one reason why the Academy and organizations like the Fraternal Order of Police put so much effort into training and mental health resources.
Lewis is very familiar with the St. Louis County Wellness Program that is available to all new officers. He also is chairman of the Eastern Missouri Peer Support Council, a group that is dedicated to training people from every police department to provide peer support in an organized fashion. This is also supported by a state statute that requires mental health check-ins for officers in their departments.
“The level of suicide and mental health issues in law enforcement is exceedingly high. One study quoted a 54% increased risk for suicide. When you think about the job of a police officer, many of our contacts are during someone’s worst day, and these contacts may just be one of several in our day. Extrapolate that out for months and years and it is easy to see why it is so difficult to do this job,” Lewis said. “Add to that issue the recent move to second guess, defund and attack law enforcement officers, and you definitely have a recipe for stress.
“St. Louis County is taking a lead role in the wellness of their department members by offering social programs and peer counseling. That being said, many municipalities, including Ellisville in particular, are leading the pack in providing peer support, wellness programs and other mental health resources to assist our officers in maintaining their own mental health.”
“We’re finally turning a corner in our profession where we realize that the mental health of our officers is a priority,” Lewis told the families and friends of the graduating officers during his keynote address.
To the graduates, he said being a police officer would mean being exposed to that which average citizens are not equipped to experience.
“You’re going to save a life,” Lewis said. “You may be called to take a life. In this career, you will experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.”
Through it all, he urged them to “never forget the people we are sworn to protect” and to take care of each other.
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