As the police department in the small Missouri town of Kinloch crumbled from incompetence, cops began whispering to reporters. They said many of the other 123 police agencies that patrol the St. Louis area shared the same problems. Resources were spread too thin, causing dangerously inconsistent law enforcement. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch began an investigation. In flagrant violation of police licensing laws, untrained auxiliary officers were patrolling alone.
There were troubled officers shuffling amoung poor departments. There were broken-down patrol cars and one department with no two-way radios. During the yearlong investigation we amassed an enormous amount of data through public information requests. Crime rates, budgets, officer salaries and other statistics were compiled into spreadsheets and compared in graphics. In the spring of 2003, we mailed open records requests to more than 140 police departments seeking budgets, staff lists, and policies for using deadly force.
None of the departments provided these documents electronically. We gathered Uniform Crime Report statistics electronically from the Missouri Department of Public Safety and the FBI. Reporters downloaded the Illinois crime data from the state's Web site. We quickly learned the flaws of relying too much on self-reported crime statistics. We decided to compare only violent crimes and averaged the crime rate over three years to get a more accurate account.
We used Microsoft Excel to track the vast amount of information. We entered the 5,900 officers into a spreadsheet so we could search the names and track certification status. Reporters used the budgets to calculate statistics such as cost per capita, cost per call and cost per officer. Reaction from the public was immediate. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney launched an investigation into the misuse of volunteer officers.
The Missouri State Auditor began a probe into the state program that investigates police misconduct.