St. Louis City Presiding Judge Reveals That a Dozen Sheriff's Deputies Are Fake
How did at least 16 individuals get badges and guns without applications, background checks, or references? How many more fakers are out there?
On August 11, 2023, Presiding Judge of the St. Louis City Circuit Court, the Hon. Elizabeth Hogan, issued an administrative order which revealed a scandal. The St. Louis City Sheriff’s Department hired at least sixteen deputies to provide courthouse security, conduct evictions, and serve legal process without applications, background checks, interviews, or references. Thus, these deputies were engaged in their duties without having been approved by a majority of the Circuit Judges.
Sheriff’s deputies in St. Louis City and St. Louis County are limited in their duties compared to sheriffs in more rural areas, but they still wield immense power. They can incarcerate people for contempt of court, they serve court process in a timely manner, and they conduct evictions. They are armed and can deploy deadly force while protected in part by “qualified immunity.”
As previously discussed in this Substack, Missouri is already a state where Sheriffs can have more unchecked investigative power than the FBI.
So the idea that law enforcement officers are being hired in St. Louis City outside of Missouri statutory requirements is bewildering at first glance and tectonic if you think about the implications.
First, one wonders how the judges didn’t notice all these new deputies walking around when nobody had conducted interviews or approved them. St. Louis City’s court system is bustling; there’s plenty of crime, a new prosecutor, and much reform underway. But St. Louis City only has a population of 330,000; it ain’t that big. So a dozen new Sheriff’s Deputies are walking around the courthouse and serving subpoenas and none of the judges or court staff look up and wonder, “Hey, who the hell is this guy? Or that guy?” beggars belief.
Second, is it not likely that some of these Deputies may not have been suitable for work in this field? Might some of them have a criminal record? Or ties to organized crime? The purchase of police officer positions is a long-time favorite of the Mexican Cartels. And prosecutions of fake badge sales have been popping up for decades.
Third, wouldn’t every action taken by these illegally hired Sheriff’s Deputies automatically qualify as a violation of civil rights? By definition, these individuals appear to have been acting under color of state law, with citizens only responding to them because they were inappropriately clothed with legal authority. If anyone can prove their rights were violated or that they suffered injury, it seems that the 42 U.S. Code § 1983 cases would be very straightforward.
When we dig into the judicial and law enforcement apparatus in Missouri, there is a terrifying amount of artifice. The medical examinations are done by fraudsters, attorneys fail to get continuing legal education, family courts employ fake psychologists, and now we know that some of the people in uniform are not actually law enforcement officers.
The fabric of that system, already frayed, will soon be shredded.
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