Well our Translatatron 329872394834 was right (as usual)! St. Louis Police Chief Dan Isom is indeed leaving his post to become a criminology professor at UMSL, which if you think about it this is all very Judge Dredd-esque, where the retiring cop has to now go and walk the horrible waste land and bring law to the lawless, which in this case is UMSL’s North City location.
Isom holds three degrees from UMSL, including a doctorate in criminology and criminal justice. Looking relaxed and happy, the Chief explained that he’s always had two driving passions — police work and teaching.
“We have to continue to attack violent crime in the city of St. Louis,” Isom said, “Over the past four years, I think we’ve done a good job. But we’ve got to get it to a point where the perception meets the reality of the numbers going down.”
Isom is leaving the post with one year left on his five-year contract, and maybe you’d think that he figured he wouldn’t be retained anyway since, you know, the crime is pretty much the worst part of city living, and it’s his job to stop it…but not so says Mayor Slay!
Giving his blessing at the news conference was Mayor Francis Slay, a member of the police board, who says he thought Isom could have stayed chief “as long as he wanted.”
…but then Slay added:
Slay pointed out that Isom’s 4 years at the helm of the department is longer than average for the job.
Oh well alright then! The crime still blows but you beat the average before you were pushed out, so I guess Isom wins! Here’s to you Dan Isom, we will always remember you…don’t worry that they also use this song to get people to donate money to sad puppies, this video is totally from the heart and includes some great memories, most of which are from the past few days!
With Proposition A just around the corner, which, if passed, would finally put the police under city control, Mayor Slay is firmly in charge of finding a new chief:
Midwest Mayor looking for Police Chief (m4m) St. Louis City
I’m a cool big city mayor looking for a match in a chill police chief ready to take on a challenge. Being stupid enough to dive in to this mess is important, and lets be honest, being black is a plus since it balances out my extreme white-ness. Must love dogs, Twitter and be happy with the few policemen we give you. Just please don’t come in here and be better and police chiefing than I am at mayoring. #fgs