Max Chantha | October 24, 2015

MISSOURI – Police departments across the country, willingly or not, are heading towards the same fate as those in Charlack and Wellston, two suburban satellite towns of St. Louis.

New reformist legislation is in the works to limit police’s ability to fund themselves through tickets, an anti-democratic technique often referred to as “taxation through citation.”

Wellston and Charlack, instead of having their own departments, now use a joint force of others from other departments and volunteers.

This is mainly due to the fact that these departments’ income through citation has been halved from thirty percent of their overall annual revenue thanks to a new state law seeking to stop police from furnishing their departments with unwarranted taxpayer robbery.

As such, the towns are unable to operate their own dedicated police force.

The law was brought about because of the post-Michael Brown climate in the St. Louis area, which had fostered an increased scrutiny of not only policing tactics but also their motives.

It is now widely recognized by reform groups and forward thinking government officials alike that police departments purpose is not to provide funding for themselves or local government, but to ensure public safety.

It has often been the habit of mayors or other high ranking city officials to encourage officers to ticket, often needlessly, their citizens so that the inefficient local governments can stay afloat on the back of taxpayer dollars.

Collusion between chiefs and mayors in what amounts to legalized racketeering completely defeats the point of law enforcement, and perpetuates governments that obviously need economic and policy reform.

Law enforcement should be upheld by those who truly care about the law, not maintaining their income through robbing citizens.

What used to be an honorable and respected position has been hijacked by profiteers intent on upholding institutions that are meant to go under.

Max Chantha is a writer and investigative journalist interested in covering incidences of government injustice, at home and abroad. He is a current university student studying Global Studies and Professional Writing. Check out Max Chantha: An Independent Blog for more of his work.