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More Change Ahead For St. Louis County Board Of Police Commissioners

St. Louis County Executive Sam Page has nominated Dr. Laurie Punch, left and Thomasina Hassler to the county's Board of Police Commissioners.
Washington University School of Medicine, Thomasina Hassler via Facebook
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page has nominated Dr. Laurie Punch, left and Thomasina Hassler to the county's Board of Police Commissioners.

St. Louis County Executive Sam Page is keeping his promise to bring leadership change to the police department.

Page on Thursday announced that he had nominated Dr. Laurie Punch, a trauma surgeon, and Thomasina Hassler, a longtime educator, to the Board of Police Commissioners, which oversees the police department. He had two other nominees approved by the county council last week.

“Dr. Punch and Professor Hassler will make a great addition to the police board as we continue this critical transition period,” Page said in a statement. “Change in the police department begins at the top and, in St. Louis County, that is the police board. We will continue making changes in a thoughtful manner to ensure a welcoming work environment for our police employees while providing the high-quality police services that keep our residents safe.”

Neither Punch nor Hassler was immediately available for comment. If confirmed, Punch will replace Lawrence Wooten, a pastor at Williams Temple Church of God in Christ, who’s been serving on a term that expired in February 2017. Hassler would replace Art Johnson, the former president and CEO at AAA. Johnson’s term expired earlier this month. 

Punch and Hassler would also join Michelle Schwerin, an attorney at Capes Sokol, to make up a majority-female board. The board previously had only one woman.

The turnover at the police board began last month, after a St. Louis County jury awarded a police sergeant nearly $20 million in a discrimination case. The jury found that the department had refused to promote Sgt. Keith Wildhaber because he is gay, and then retaliated against him when he complained.

Page released a statement a few days after the verdict promising to nominate new commissioners. The then-chairman of the board, former FBI agent Roland Corvington, quit a few days later. He has since been replaced, as has Laurie Westfall, the widow of former St. Louis County Executive Buzz Westfall.

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Lippmann returned to her native St. Louis after spending two years covering state government in Lansing, Michigan. She earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and followed (though not directly) in Maria Altman's footsteps in Springfield, also earning her graduate degree in public affairs reporting. She's also done reporting stints in Detroit, Michigan and Austin, Texas. Rachel likes to fill her free time with good books, good friends, good food, and good baseball.
Rachel Lippmann
Lippmann returned to her native St. Louis after spending two years covering state government in Lansing, Michigan. She earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and followed (though not directly) in Maria Altman's footsteps in Springfield, also earning her graduate degree in public affairs reporting. She's also done reporting stints in Detroit, Michigan and Austin, Texas. Rachel likes to fill her free time with good books, good friends, good food, and good baseball.