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Ferguson Commission Member Reflects on Accomplishments, Effectiveness, Future Goals
T. R. Carr chaired one committee, served on another
By Tom Anselm
Over a year ago the St. Louis County Grand Jury announced that Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson would not be charged in the death of Michael Brown. In light of the resulting civil unrest and property damage in the Ferguson area and other parts of the St. Louis Metropolitan area, a commission was formed by Gov. Jay Nixon to address some of the issues that surfaced. It was called The Ferguson Commission and was made up of community leaders and regular citizens appointed by Nixon.
Citizens expressed a general call for municipal court reform, crisis training for police officers, and a closer look at how some cities used traffic fines to fund their general revenue. There was also a call to look into police tactics and activities with regard to minorities. The hope was that this commission would create a forum for these and other issues and produce recommendations going forward.
The Independent News asked one of the members of the commission, T. R. Carr, for his impressions of the commission’s effectiveness and related topics. Carr, a long-time area resident and former Hazelwood mayor, served as a co-chair of the Municipal Courts group and also as a member of the Community-Law Enforcement work group, each group meeting over 15 times. In addition, there were 19 meetings of the complete commission.
“The Commission did provide for an extensive opportunity for input by residents of the area… primarily the North County area,” Carr said in response a series of questions the newspaper asked. In order to achieve implementation of many of the recommendations, the impacted municipalities needed to be involved and supportive, Carr noted, and he also felt municipal input was lacking.
Carr stated, “ One potential weakness of the approach taken by the Commission was somewhat minimal outreach to the various municipal governments in order to provide an opportunity for their input, since they are the elected representatives of the area.” He said this was needed for municipalities to “work to increase their understanding of the issues that were identified by the Commission through the public meetings that were held.” He added that this minimal outreach was not by design, but that it just wasn’t done. However, he noted that “the lack of direct engagement of elected officials is a weakness and their involvement would have increased the potential for more immediate policy change.”
But he also felt that the membership of the commission was appropriate and provided for hearings and insights.
“Even though the commission approved some 189 recommendations, a number of these did not have unanimous support. Some of the recommendations were very appropriate, such as increased training for police officers. At the same time, the Commission did not address a funding mechanism for this training,” Carr said.
Also recommended was a consolidation of a number of school districts within St. Louis County as well as police departments. Carr said such recommendations “require support from the municipalities and the public…which seems unlikely.” Carr also noted that the Commission made “extensive recommendations related to health care, but did not address the issue of funding, which is a significant issue.”
An issue that influenced much of the work of the Commission had to do with race relations in the region. In his remarks to The Independent News. Carr said the “issue of race relations remains an important item on the public policy agenda.”
“I would hope that a mechanism for open dialogue exists in order to understand the problems and to document progress that has been made in this area. Progress needs to continue and that can only be achieved through increased interaction between all segments of society.”
The Commission has completed its meeting schedule and made its recommendations. Carr addressed what might happen from here, and what he would like to see happen.
The Commission “has sought to encourage Focus St. Louis to work with the implementation of these recommendations. It appears that some of the commission staff and some members of the Commission may create some type of entity (perhaps a non-profit like Move Forward through Ferguson) to work with Focus St. Louis in the coming years.”
“I am committed to participatory municipal government,” he continued. “I would hope that municipalities would actively engage citizens in seeking their input into policies that may have unintended consequences on the public. Change, when appropriate, can best be achieved through the ballot box. This involves an informed and engaged public.”
Focus St. Louis is a non-profit group that, according to their website, is the “region’s premier leadership organization, preparing diverse leaders to work cooperatively for a thriving St. Louis region through experience-based leadership training, civic issue education and public engagement initiatives.”
Carr has been a professor at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and headed the Master of Public Administration program. He still does independent projects for SIU-Edwardsville. He was mayor of Hazelwood from 2000-2009.
