Kehoe signs bill that impacts St. Louis police department, addresses school violence

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Gov. Mike Kehoe signed House Bill 495 on Wednesday morning, focusing on public safety, which has been a top priority for the administration since taking office.

A part of this bill will establish a committee dedicated to school safety within the Department of Public Safety. Those who will serve on this committee will evaluate and establish guidelines for school safety concerns and include plans to prevent school gun violence.

The measure also allows the Board of Police Commissioners to take control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department by July 1, 2026. A board of five commissioners appointed by the governor will work with the mayor. A transition director will also be appointed within 30 days.

The bill states that the city can still pass ordinances, but none that would “conflict or interfere with the powers or the exercise of the powers of the Board.”

"This is not the governor running the City of St. Louis. This is a citizen-led board that will make decisions on what's best to keep their community safe,” Kehoe said. “And we think when citizens get to make those decisions, that's much better than politicians, including myself.”

HB 495 will also upgrade first-degree endangering the welfare of a child to a "dangerous felony" in the criminal code. This would carry a sentence of five-to-10 years in prison and the person charged would not be eligible for a suspended execution of sentence.

The bill will also bring changes to the law concerning the Criminal Activity Forfeiture Act. The act includes felony violations of traffic laws “that involve the use of motor vehicle and offenses under the Missouri Criminal Street Gangs Prevention Acts,” the bill states.

The Committee on School Safety will be made of members from the DPS, Missouri Sheriffs' Association, Missouri Municipal League, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Missouri School Boards' Association's Center for Education Safety. 

The DPS will organize the committee, take stock of what resources schools need and any laws that could need revising.

"The mission will be just to take a comprehensive look at what our current status is across the state and what our vulnerabilities that need addressing are," said Mark James, who is the director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety.

The bill also looks to focus on gun violence in schools, the committee also hopes to focus on other areas of safety like student mental health, deescalation training and weather emergency procedures.

"We're thinking about behavior management and helping kids find their space where they can get back to learning, teachers, understanding how they can manage and regulate and create a safer classroom environment where everybody can continue to learn without disruption," said John McDonald, who is the chief operating officer of the Center for Education Safety.

The Missouri Sheriffs' Association hopes to help with the school resource officer program and general safety programs in schools. Osage County Sheriff Michael Bonham added that rural areas tend to lean on the sheriff's office for school safety.

"Smaller counties can't afford school resource officers and neither can the school districts, so hopefully that's something that they will take a look at being grafted in our schools," Bonham said. "The Sheriffs' Association is very excited about this initiative and this committee to be able to come up with different plans, to be able to have a better understanding of what's going on with school shootings and also school safety."

The Missouri Municipal League will help act as a liaison between school boards and local governments to make sure schools get what they need.

"There's so much behind the scenes where they're just working to keep things running smoothly for each community and we're excited to be a part of this," Laura Holloway, Missouri Municipal League Deputy Director, said. "We all know our schools touch absolutely every aspect of the community."

The Department of Public Safety is currently getting in contact with the other groups involved to appoint members of the committee.