0311 TOP 11 POLICE AGENCIES IN ST. LOUIS

HONORABLE MENTION

ST. ANN POLICE Great SWAT Guys. Pursuit policy? Nah.

CRYSTAL CITY POLICE Always working, Always getting bettter.

O’FALLON (MO) POLICE Squared away professionals.

ST. CHARLES COUNTY POLICE The anchor across the river.

11. ARNOLD POLICE:  A growing police department for a rapidly growing area, the APD has been hiring quality officers from other agencies like the Los Angeles Dodgers sign free agents.  Excellent pay and benefits lure officers to Arnold along with the opportunity to do some real police work.  The fruit doesn’t hang super low, but there is work to be done there.  You have I-55 for the traffic enforcement lovers, retail and commercial areas for the shoplifters, and mobile home parks for the meth heads.  Quality leadership that supports their officers is also another very important attribute of the Arnold PD.

10. FRANKLIN COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE:  Guided by the steady hand of Sheriff Steve Pelton, the FCSO tends to fly under the radar with minimal public drama and shenanigans.  Hard working deputies trying to do the job the right way under the leadership of quality commanders.  The FCSO also has an underrated SWAT team led by a very solid SWAT commander.  The FCSO sees a good mix of rural policing and busy suburban policing along with highway traffic enforcement.  There are drugs, there’s cows, there’s fast cars, and plenty of bandits. Good regional partners ready to go across county lines to help wherever they’re needed.

9. TOWN AND COUNTRY POLICE:  While Town and Country, MO. isn’t exactly a hot bed of crime, the T&CPD pays well and treats their officers right.  Competitive salary, good work environment, incredible community support, and competent leadership go a long way in this profession.  Top of the line technology, on duty work out time, and some sweet new pistols on the way.  Their training curriculum improves almost daily they continue to hire quality people. They treat their people like full grown adults, and they hired one of our instructors so….  A department can often be measured by the people they hire, right?  No duh, huh?   

8. ST. LOUIS CITY POLICE: While the SLMPD was home for most of our staff, we would love to see it ranked higher on the list but apparently the blue-ribbon panel deemed it just isn’t there yet.  It is still the “Home of the Real Police”.  The rank-and-file officers and street Sergeants are the best you will find.  There are a handful of Majors and  Lt.Col’s that are among the finest law enforcement leaders in the region.  Pay, manpower shortages, and some damage done by previous leaders, and some current ones, are obstacles the SLMPD is still trying to overcome.  But state control is back, and things are looking up.  It is still the best place to learn how to do police work and there are still many fine people there to teach you how.  The academy is still very solid, there is an abundance of opportunities in terms of specialized units and assignments, and the fruit hangs low if you like doing cop stuff.  Having that city patch on your sleeve still means something.  As things progress, we expect the SLMPD to rank much higher next year.

7. ST. LOUIS COUNTY POLICE:  The County Browns have been a reputable agency for a very long time.  The agency has always promoted well, and thus is set up to have good leadership in place for a long time.  We expect next few Chiefs to be good ones (we have our pick for the next one should they choose to ask us).  Many of the officers that stood tall through the toughest of times about a decade ago are now leading the place.  Pay and benefits seem to only always get better.  It feels like county cops are getting raises every other week.  A great tactical team, excellent detectives, and its own academy are a plus.  As a large department, it can be prone to large department problems, but less than one might think.  From north county to south county, there is a variety of environments to work in.  Plenty of areas to do some real police work. If they didn’t have the sit and reach test back in 1996, they’d probably be ranked much higher today. 

6. WEBSTER GROVES POLICE: Chief Vincent Acevez has come into town as a man on a mission.  He instantly prioritized  his officers and wasted no time seeking out opportunities for them in training and professional development.  Bottom line, he wants to do right by his officers and his town.  He collaborates with neighboring Chiefs to foster a cohesive regional policing approach.  The pay is good and will be getting better soon.   A highly supportive community that likes it’s police and some really good officers who understand the importance of that support.  A very positive work environment and officers that support each other on the street and look for work.  Lower call volume allows for time to do cop stuff and the opportunities are there.  Pay is good, and will be better in the near future.  Solid leadership is a commodity in this profession and Chief Acevez is a motivated man, and the right man for Webster Groves.  Even if he is a Cubs fan.   

5. CLAYTON POLICE: It could be said downtown Clayton is busier and more robust than downtown St. Louis.  This allows for all sorts of tomfoolery and antics to police. With upper class residential areas, commercial spots, a highway, a major university’s campus, spillover from the city and being surrounded by other busy municipalities, Clayton offers opportunities to do some real police work.  There is great collaboration between the PD, FD, and the Clayton School District which makes it one of more prepared agencies for active threat situations.  Clayton also takes any opportunities to train with its regional partners.    Chief Mark Smith is an outstanding leader who prioritizes training and his people along with the fact that he’s just a hell of a good guy.   We give them a pass on copying the city’s badge, but they are a well-run agency with a command staff that concerns themselves with the things that matter.   

4. JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE:  Sheriff Dave Marshak is among the best law enforcement leaders in the region.  He continues to modernize the JCSO and continually addresses equipment and technology needs.  Giving his deputies everything they need to succeed is his priority.   You would be hard pressed to find a bad supervisor in the Road Patrol.  All the Corporals, Sergeants, and Lieutenants on the road want their deputies to succeed and flourish.  Jefferson County is huge, and with what can be a large call volume at times, it can be difficult to do the type of proactive police work that makes the job fun, but the opportunities are there.  The SWAT team is fantastic, and the detective bureau is as professional as you will find and a brand-new crime lab puts Jeffco leaps and bounds ahead of many agencies.  The pay is competitive and with a little work on benefits, the JCSO will only get more appealing.  There is a family atmosphere at the JCSO that you will not find in most places.

3. SUNSET HILLS POLICE: Chief Steve Dodge is a St. Louis City Mobile Reserve veteran.  Why is that important?  Because if you work for him, you better enjoy doing police work.  Chief Dodge is a champion of the working policeman.  He wants bad guys in handcuffs.  He will devote the time, resources, and manpower to do it.  Sunset Hills is a fun place to work because of it.  One of the few places left where cops can go out and do cop things.  Pay and benefits are competitive, not on the top end, but not bad.  Camaraderie seems to be very important at SHPD, and the officers are a very tight knit group.  Located between I-44, I-270, and Highway 30, a lot of riff raff passes through the Hills.  Plenty of policework to do, plenty of support from the community, plenty of support from the city officials, and plenty of support from the chain of command.  All important things.  Good police work does not go unnoticed or unrecognized here.  

2. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY POLICE:  A campus police department is #2?????  Yes, it is.  Chief Angela Coonce has swooped in and turned WUPD from a retirement gig for nursing home ready police relics of yesteryear into one of the best agencies in the region.  She went out and recruited younger, pro-active officers.  She recruited seasoned, veteran investigators.  She recruited intelligent, analytical administrators.  She recruited purpose driven commanders.  She has earned unfettered support from the University leadership, and she uses that only for the betterment of the agency.   There is NO agency in the region that trains like WUPD.  We know for a fact that they train active shooter more than anyone else.  They train civil disobedience more than anyone else.  They consistently send officers off to schools.  They are committed to the development of their people.  The pay is great, the benefits are top notch, and don’t forget the whole college tuition thing.  Granted, if you are looking for a high tempo, run and gun, chase the bad guys type place to work, WUPD probably isn’t the place for you.  It is a campus police department.  However, there are opportunities to do some good, it just depends on what kind of good you want to do.

1.BRENTWOOD POLICE:  Like Chief Dodge in Sunset Hills, Chief Joe Spiess in Brentwood is a St. Louis City Mobile Reserve veteran.  Chief Spiess has done just about every type of police work an officer can do at just about every level.  He likes good proactive police work, he likes officers that hustle, he likes officers that do the job right, but there is one thing that matters to him more than anything else-Officer Safety.  Chief Spiess is more dedicated to keeping his officers safe than any other leader we have had contact with.  He continually trains in house on street survival topics.  Chief Spiess has assembled an outstanding command staff which will certainly carry on this mantra after he is gone, which he claims is soon, but we will believe it when we see it.  In Brentwood, no one does anything alone.  If you see one Brentwood officer, you’ll soon see three.  Brentwood offers unique opportunities to do proactive police work, and the pay and benefits are very competitive.  Chief Spiess has a knack for putting the right people in the right places.   If you work hard, he will take care of you.  If you’re doing the right thing, he will take care of you.  It sounds so simple, but anyone who has done some time in this profession knows how valuable and rare that actually is.   Leadership that is honest, has done the “boots on the ground” street police work, and doesn’t come to work every day seeking their own advancement.  Quality equipment, quality training, and a great atmosphere.  As of December 31st, 2025, we feel they are the best agency in St. Louis.