The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department received $200,000 in grant funding for a drug task force that they say does not exist.
That might sound strange, but city officials tell Aaron Malin, a researcher for Show-Me Cannabis, the marijuana reform group, that they don’t know about any so-called “drug task force.” And that’s despite several government records showing that grant money has been awarded to the non-existent drug task force and other records that tally the number of arrests the unit has made. These records were obtained by Malin via Missouri Sunshine requests.
Malin tells Daily RFT that he believes there can only be two explanations.
“They’re deliberately misleading the public or worse, are genuinely ignorant,” Malin says. “And that’s more concerning because that means there’s an armed task force running around St. Louis enforcing drug laws and, if history is any indication, in a manner that is somestimes violent.”
So is the SLMPD hiding a drug task force? That sounds strange, given that there’s nothing inherently controversial about having such a unit.
The Riverfront Times has the full story.