FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
The Metropolitan Police Department of the City of St. Louis (also known as the SLMPD or Metro) is the primary law enforcement agency for the U.S. city of St. Louis.
According to the Mapping Police Violence dataset, SLMPD has the highest police use of deadly force per capita. The SLMPD union has strongly resisted attempts to establish independent oversight of police misconduct. When Kimberly Gardner, the top prosecutor in St. Louis, sought to establish a unit within her office to independently investigate police misconduct, the leader of the SLMPD union said Gardner should be removed “by force or by choice.”
HISTORY
The Metropolitan Police Department was established in 1808, five years after St. Louis became part of the United States. The department was created with only four officers, who received no pay. Able-bodied men age 18 and older were required to patrol for four months of the year. This was the only police system for the next 10 years. Refusal to serve on patrol carried a fine of $1.
In 2013, CALEA recognized the Metropolitan Police Department with it distinguished Tri-Arc Award. The Tri-Arc Award is reserved for those police agencies that have successfully accredited their law enforcement services, police academy and communications division.
The MPDSL is a division in the Public Safety Department – City of St. Louis. With approximately 1,343 officers and 462 civilian staff, it is the 34th municipal police department in the United States. The department serves an area of 69 square miles (180 km2) and a population of over 294,890 people. Established on August 7, 1808, the SLMPD is one of the oldest police departments in the United States. The Metropolitan Police is the second largest municipal police agency in Missouri, based on number of employees, city population, and geographic area served.
From April 28, 1836, to August 29, 2020, the Officer Down Memorial Page reported that 170 officers in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department have died in the line of duty.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
When was DDT banned in the United States, and how long had it been used?
DDT, or dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, was recognized as a potential pesticide in 1939 by the Swiss chemist Paul Muller. It was first widely used during World War II and thereafter throughout the world to combat yellow fever, typhus, elephantiasis, and other diseases carried by insects. DDT helped reduce the number of malaria cases worldwide and increased crop and livestock yields in developing countries. It came under scrutiny with the 1962 publication of Silent Spring, a book in which American marine biologist Rachel Carson asserted that DDT was destroying other animal life by entering the food chain. The United States banned DDT in 1972 except for in cases of extreme health emergencies. Many other nations also have banned it or placed it under strict control.
Advice of the Day
Neither fear to die nor refuse to live.
Home Hint of the Day
To clean rust from a woodstove, give it a good scrubbing with a dry wire brush.
Word of the Day
Apogee
The point in the Moon’s orbit that is farthest from Earth.
Puzzle of the Day
Why is there a difference of only two letters of the alphabet between an accepted and a rejected love?
One kisses his miss, and the other misses his kiss.
Died
- John Locke (philosopher) – 1704
- Abigail Adams (U.S. First Lady) – 1818
- Red Auerbach (basketball coach) – 2006
- Porter Wagoner (country music singer) – 2007
Born
- Francis Bacon (painter) – 1909
- Dr. Jonas Salk (discovered polio vaccine) – 1914
- Cleo Laine (singer) – 1927
- Joan Plowright (actress) – 1929
- Charlie Daniels (musician) – 1936
- Lenny Wilkens (basketball player, coach) – 1937
- Jane Alexander (actress) – 1939
- Dennis Franz (actor) – 1944
- Bill Gates (Microsoft founder) – 1955
- Lauren Holly (actress) – 1963
- Jami Gertz (actress) – 1965
- Julia Roberts (actress) – 1967
- Brad Paisley (country singer) – 1972
- Joaquin Phoenix (actor) – 1974
Events
- Christopher Columbus discovered Cuba and claimed it for Spain– 1492
- Harvard College founded in Massachusetts– 1636
- The Statue of Liberty was unveiled in the New York Harbor– 1886
- The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor was dedicated by President Cleveland– 1886
- St. Louis police became the first in the U.S. to use fingerprinting– 1904
- The Jack Benny Show made its television debut– 1950
- Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature– 1954
- An X17.2 solar flare occurred that, at the time, was the third most powerful ever recorded– 2003
- The Boston Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies to win the World Series– 2007
- Mike Lowell of the Boston Red Sox was named World Series MVP– 2007
Weather
- Lander, Wyoming, received 27 inches of snow– 1971
- The temperature at Big Piney, Wyoming, plunged to -15 degrees F– 1971
- The Georgia mountains received five inches of snow– 1973
- Cyclone 05B in the Indian Ocean became a Category 5– 1999
COURTESY www.almanac.com
