Website [1] Political party Democratic Party | Name Jeff Roorda | |
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Born March 30, 1965 (age 59)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. ( 1965-03-30 ) Alma mater Missouri Baptist University
University of Missouri-St. Louis Education Missouri Baptist University Residence Barnhart, Missouri, United States | ||
Slmpd spokesman jeff roorda assaults black woman at public meeting
Jeffrey Roorda was a Democratic member of the Missouri House of Representatives, serving since 2013 to 2015. Roorda ran for the Missouri Senate in District 22 in 2014, but he was defeated by Paul Wieland, a Republican from Imperial. A former police officer, he is also the executive director and business manager of the St. Louis Police Officers Association (SLPOA). SLPOA is Lodge #68 of the Fraternal Order of Police, covering the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD). Another union, the Ethical Society of Police, represents Black officers.
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Career
Roorda has worked in law enforcement for seventeen years. He was a police officer in Arnold, Missouri until 2001, when he was fired for making false statements. Later, he became chief of police in Kimmswick, another city in Jefferson County. He is the executive director and a business manager of the St. Louis Police Officers Association.
On January 16, 2014, Roorda sponsored a bill that, if passed, will allow the government to close "any records and documents pertaining to police shootings [...] if they contain the name of any officer who did the shooting, unless the officer who did the shooting has been charged with a crime as a result of the shooting, in which case such records or documents shall not be closed."
Roorda said the St. Louis Police Officers Association has had concerns about dashboard cameras in use on many city patrol cars and would have the same worries about on-body devices. Roorda said both types of cameras provide video of “one angle of an encounter” that sometimes doesn’t reflect exactly what happened. “In general, cameras have been bad for law enforcement and the communities they protect,” he said. “It causes constant second-guessing by the courts and the media.”
Roorda has helped with the fundraising for Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who was under investigation for the controversial killing of Michael Brown, and Roorda repeatedly publicly defended Wilson. Roorda demanded an apology from the NFL following a public display of protest by several members of the St. Louis Rams. In January 2015, Roorda, wearing an "I am Darren Wilson" bracelet, instigated a fracas at a meeting of the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis by pushing a woman as he was approaching and arguing with the aldermen. The woman alleges minor injuries and the union removed Roorda as its spokesperson on matters regarding a proposed civilian oversight board, about which the aforementioned meeting was hearing public testimony. Late in 2015 a controversial book by Roorda, Ferghanistan: The War on Police, was released with a "generous" portion of the profits promised to Wilson.