St. Louis Metro Questions?

[Scotofc]

I am contemplating a move to the St. Louis area and am looking at getting on with St. Louis Metro, I was curious about quality of life issues, such as schedules, equipment, off-duty availability and all the other things that determine life as a cop. If you have suggestions or info it would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[pumpkin]

There is a 7 year residency requirement--after you have been on the dept for that long you can move out of the city.

The schools suck. Let me say that again. The schools suck. They were in serious danger of losing their accreditation last year and the situation has not really improved this year (they threw money at the problem, but it doesn't seem to have done anything except cover up the underlying problems).

Crime is terribly underreported. With the underreported stats, St Louis was the second most dangerous city in the US. There is a huge gang, drug, and violence problem.

Mass transit isn't very good. Traffic, roads, and drivers are terrible. DWI penalties are lax.

Pollution is terrible.

The economy in Missouri isn't coming back like the rest of the country. Prices persist in going up, more people are getting laid off, and jobs are leaving.

St Louis is the most racist major city I have ever lived in. Some is in the open. A lot of it isn't.

St Louis has a very dead downtown (entertainment). However, they are working on that (lofts, bars, shops and restaurants from the in-the-works theater section to the Mississippi River).

St Louis has a very large, aggressive, politically active homeless population.

St. Louis has beautiful professional sports venues (Blues, Rams, and Cardinals). The Cards are moving into their new stadium this spring.

There are 5 casinos in the immediate area--3 more in the works (1 will replace a currently existing casino).

Attractions in Forest Park (zoo, planetarium, science center, art museum, history museum) are free. Parking for them is not, but you can get there by bus or light rail.

The botanical gardens are first-rate. Monsanto and some of the other plant sciences corporations have spent millions on it.

Anhauser Busch has tours with free samples at the end. :D :D :D

St Louis has major Mardi Gras and St Patrick's Day celebrations, including parades.

There are several good blues and jazz venues in the metro area.

St Louis is a rap center.

The symphony is about a 3rd or 4th tier quality.

There are lots of colleges and univerisities in the metro area. UMSL, SLU, Wash U, Concordia, Webster, Eden, Covenant, Columbia College, etc. It is relatively easy to get into graduate school.

There is a City Museum (free), the Arch, and Westward Expansion Museum downtown.

A lot of LE live clustered in a few parts of the city (enclaves in certain neighborhoods).

Missouri has lots of LE training opportunities. POST is actually quite reasonable about most things.

I never worked for the dept you are looking at, so cannot answer the rest of your question.

IMHO, if you are looking for a major city, pretty much anywhere else would be better, especially if you have or plan on having kids.

[mustang_guy]

Scotofc-
It's strange. You want to come here and I want to go there. I've applied for Chesterfield Pd, and am eventually looking to move out to Phoenix.

The city isn't the greatest place to live, or work for that matter. It really takes a special breed to be able to work down there (Metro), live down there, and comparatively, not get paid well for it. It starts to get ALOT nicer as you move more west though..........and construction and the general population is moving west.

Mike