Prosecutors and police are supposed to be a team working together to stop crime and bring criminals to justice. Only that’s not what is happening in St. Louis. There, prosecutors would rather go after the police officers than the criminals.

"It’s almost expected that (St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is) going to blame police every time something happens, and say we didn’t provide the right evidence, we didn’t do the right thing," said Jay Schroeder, president of the St. Louis Police Officers Association.

In the most recent example of this, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office refused to file charges against an armed robbery suspect who tried to steal a marked police car. In addition, the suspect, 27-year-old Allen Robinson, allegedly pointed a gun at an officer.

St. Louis police officers responded to a report of gunshots around 3 a.m. The officers said the man stepped in front of their marked police car as they were moving. They stopped and the man pointed a gun through the passenger window in an attempted carjacking. He reportedly ran off after realizing he was trying to carjack a police vehicle. Police later apprehended him in a restaurant parking lot. 

The arrest went without trouble, and police have a video of Robinson confessing to attempting to steal the car. He was charged with first-degree robbery, armed criminal actions, and resisting arrest.

The Circuit Attorney’s Office not only refused to prosecute the case, but it also claimed the police made up the story. 

“The Circuit Attorney’s Office is victimizing the victims,” said Brian Millikan, who is representing the two officers in question. “These are victims of a crime, and they’re being victimized again personally and professionally by that office,”

The Circuit Attorney’s Office said it based its decision on a security video that not only has a blocked view of the crime but what it does show doesn’t dispute the officers’ stories.

The St. Louis police union and Ethical Society of Police, an organization that represents mainly Black police officers, is supporting the officer’s version and asking why the Circuit Attorney’s Office didn’t present Robinson’s confession and additional body camera footage, which "fully and completely decimate the fairy tale narrative spun in today's press conference."

Police and prosecutors are supposed to work hand-in-hand to apprehend criminals and defend the law. The police respond to crime, investigate, and make arrests. The prosecutors work with them to investigate and take the cases to court. This seems more like the prosecutors are working with the criminals.

“I don’t know what it is, but it just seems like we don’t get much from her office when a police officer is the victim of a crime,” Schroeder said.

Many believe the problem begins with St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. “She was elected on a 'woke' platform to not prosecute many misdemeanors and felonies, police have criticized her office for failing to take on more cases. She recently sued the police for racism, but the case was dismissed,” according to the Daily Mail. The New York Post also claimed she was being investigated for misconduct.

The office has only prosecuted a small fraction of the number of felony cases brought to it by the police department. Granted, this could be because the office is short-staffed, but much of that is self-inflicted. Many of the lawyers are leaving the office to go into private practice.

Meanwhile, the police, who are also short staffed, are still out there working and doing their jobs only to have it fall apart because the Circuit Attorney’s Office won’t take the case.

The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office is at best ignoring the evidence, and at worst, trying to help criminals. This will erode the relationship between police and prosecutors, which may be what the leftist attorney’s office wants. If the police can’t trust the prosecutors to do their jobs and not come after them, then the police know they might as well not do their jobs. It won’t matter. It’s catch and release. It’s frustrating. It’s wrong.

Michael A. Letts is the CEO and Founder of In-VestUSA, a national grassroots non-profit organization helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs. 

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