The six-member ¹û½´ÊÓƵ Board of Police Commissioners, from left, Brad Arteaga, Don Brown, Sonya Jenkins-Gray, Edward McVey, Chris Saracino and Mayor Cara Spencer, listen during the first public meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners on Thursday, July 17, 2025, at police headquarters.
ST. LOUIS — The new ¹û½´ÊÓƵ Police Board, in its second meeting since the state takeover, agreed Wednesday that a car dealer on the board won't be appointed to a standing committee on budgetary matters.
Don Brown, who is a nonvoting member of the Police Board, was nominated Wednesday to serve on the Police Board's budget, finance and audit committee. But Mayor Cara Spencer, who is also a Police Board member, objected.
Brown's car dealership on Kingshighway has won contracts to sell cars to the police department for years. Spencer said the budget committee will help determine how much the police department spends on its vehicle fleet, and she said appointing Brown to a role on the committee "could be perceived by the community as a conflict."
Brown offered to recuse himself, and the board's attorney Christopher Graville reminded the members that the full board would ultimately need to approve any budget decisions and the committee only makes recommendations. Graville said any of the Police Board members can attend the budget committee meetings.
In the end, the five commissioners of the Police Board voted to put Brown on a different committee — one that focuses on labor management issues — and instead appoint member Eddie McVey to the committee on budget issues. McVey is a bar owner.
Critics of the new governor-appointed police board that will run the ¹û½´ÊÓƵ Police Department raised questions about potential conflicts of interest and ties to the police union.Â
Post-Dispatch photographers capture tens of thousands of images and hours of footage every year. See some of their best work from July 2025 here.
Tenants say a Central West End apartment complex forced people to pay rent and keep their leases despite the building being severely damaged.
The six-member ¹û½´ÊÓƵ Board of Police Commissioners, from left, Brad Arteaga, Don Brown, Sonya Jenkins-Gray, Edward McVey, Chris Saracino and Mayor Cara Spencer, listen during the first public meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners on Thursday, July 17, 2025, at police headquarters.
