Spotlight On: County Police Tout Regional Teamwork Solving Crime

Lake Saint Louis Police got a call that an elderly man was found dead in his home-the victim of an apparent suicide.

But with the help of crime scene investigators from St. Charles County Police, it was determined that something didn't look right.

Now, a relative of the victim is charged with murder.

It's one example of the cooperation between County Police and the municipal police departments within the county.

"The collaboration and partnership with our County Police Department grants us access to a larger pool of resources that we may not normally have," says Lake Saint Louis Police Chief Chris DiGiuseppi. "The mutual cooperation of all police agencies throughout our county strengthens our ability to keep our communities safe."

He and other chiefs point to a task force that went after car thieves as a prime example.

"Our agency has 39 sworn officers within the department and six officers assigned to each squad," DiGiuseppi says. "The Criminal Interdiction Task Force, where we dedicate a couple officers and a commander, allows police agencies throughout the county to assign 40 to 50 officers to areas where crime is prevalent. The task force has lowered crime rates throughout the county and within the City of Lake Saint Louis."

St. Peters Police Chief Andy Ramirez says the regional partnership directly benefits community safety.

"We share information between St. Peters and the County Police to solve crime," says Chief Ramirez. "Our detectives are talking with St. Charles County detectives all the time. They may have information that we don't know about, and vice versa."

One of the biggest benefits for municipal police departments is getting their crime scene evidence processed by the County Police Crime Lab, which sends results back far quicker than the state crime lab in Jefferson City.

"The turnaround time with the St. Charles County lab is much more immediate," Ramirez says. "Drug cases, latent fingerprint cases, DNA cases-if we didn't have that resource, it would take longer to solve cases."

That, Ramirez says, means victims don't have to wait for justice and criminals aren't out on the street committing more crimes for lack of being identified.

St. Charles County Chief Kurt Frisz says the cooperation with other law enforcement agencies makes all the departments better than the sum of their parts.

"We are much more effective working together and coordinating our efforts to protect and serve our community," Frisz says. "The level of collaboration between police departments in St. Charles County is remarkable."

Major collaborations include:

• Regional Emergency Management-Coordinates the response to dangerous threats from nature and man.
• The Regional Information and Intelligence Center (RIIC)-Works with federal, state, and local law enforcement (including St. Charles County Police) to protect the region from violent crime and criminal activity by providing real-time information to officers.
• St. Louis Fusion Center-Monitors threats of terrorism and provides intelligence information regarding terroristic threats to local law enforcement.
• Gateway Strike Force-Combats drug traffickers and violent criminals in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice and local U.S. Attorneys. St. Charles County Police participate in a regional unit.
• Metro Air Support-Provides helicopter support for citizens and law enforcement. This unit is a partnership with St. Louis City and County police.
• Drug Task Force-Investigates drug-related criminal activity and makes arrests with all county municipalities and Lincoln County.
• Criminal Interdiction Task Force-Targets criminals who seek to steal cars, break into cars or rob people. This multijurisdictional team includes police from all county municipalities, Maryland Heights, Bridgeton and Missouri State Highway Patrol.

How do they do it? How do they all get along?

Chief DiGiuseppi says all the local chiefs meet once a week for coffee-and yes, sometimes there are donuts-to keep the team in repair.

"I can tell you that we've had leaders from other states say, 'You guys really have a good thing going on because back where we're from, nobody can get along,'" DiGiuseppi says. "But here, we're all on the same team, and people are respectful of people's boundaries."

Editor's note: This article is part of a series celebrating the upcoming 10-year anniversary of the St. Charles County Police Department.

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