DOWNTOWN ST. LOUIS – Tuesday night, the four finalists for St. Louis Police Chief attended a town hall meeting in north St. Louis.

The moderator asked the four candidates questions submitted online from the St. Louisians they’ll be serving. Some of the biggest topics of the night were the tackling crime and gun violence, the homicide rate, and building trust in the community.

Robert Tracy is a former police chief from the Wilmington, Delaware Police Department. He was the first candidate to explain why he wants the job. His strategy to curb violence with community engagement and trust, mirrored in the second candidate, Larry Boone.

He’s the former police chief of Norfolk, Virginia.

The only internal candidate is the Interim Chief, Micahel Sack. He noted St. Louis’ murder rate is not acceptable. He pledged to increase patrol.

The fourth candidate is Melron Kelly. He’s the deputy police chief in Columbia, South Carolina.
He joined Tuesday night’s town hall through Zoom. Each candidate shared their methods of fighting crime in the city.

“We really have to have a plan to be transparent, we need to have a plan and put it up on a website,” Tracy said.

“They drove me around this city, and I saw you have hard stuff, but I’m ready to move mountains if you’ll have me,” Boone shared.

“We got to address the gun laws, we have to find a way to engage the families, to be more active and proactive,” Sack expressed.

“Increasing work opportunities, increasing re-entry opportunities as well on the juvenile level,” Kelly shared.

The full answers from the candidates on FOX2Now.com. People who attended the town hall were asked to share their thoughts on each candidate on a comment card, which will be taken in consideration in the final decision.

The new police chief is expected to be announced by the end of the year.