Protecting Health and Safety

Here’s how we are working to build a safe, healthy business
environment in Missouri.

driver overview

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Health and public safety affect every Missourian. Low crime rates are consistently reported as a top factor for people choosing where to live. It influences where they shop, play and work. Health, safety and security contribute to citizens’ well-being. A lack of health and safety rob a town of its vitality and sense of community. In 2022, the Missouri Chamber Foundation added this driver to our Missouri 2030 strategic plan, with an aggressive list of ways to address this critical problem facing our state.

​​Health and public safety affect every Missourian. Low crime rates are consistently reported as a top factor for people choosing where to live. It influences where they shop, play and work. Health, safety and security contribute to citizens’ well-being. A lack of health and safety rob a town of its vitality and sense of community. In 2022, the Missouri Chamber Foundation added this driver to our Missouri 2030 strategic plan, with an aggressive list of ways to address this critical problem facing our state.

Health and safety impact profitability, risk and access to employees and customers.

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Health and public safety are also a significant business issue. They impact profitability, risk and access to employees and customers. Recently, concerns about public safety in particular have risen among Missouri business leaders. Negative national attention can stall economic growth and hinder the recruitment of talent. Action must be taken to address health and public safety issues in Missouri.

Health and public safety are also a significant business issue. They impact profitability, risk and access to employees and customers. Recently, concerns about public safety in particular have risen among Missouri business leaders. Negative national attention can stall economic growth and hinder the recruitment of talent. Action must be taken to address health and public safety issues in Missouri.

goals and action steps

  • Change sentencing standards to prioritize prison space for repeat offenders and those convicted of the most serious crimes.
  • Enact comprehensive bail reform, prioritizing detention for repeat and violent offenders.
  • Raise the felony theft dollar threshold and revise the persistent felony offender statute for nonviolent offenders.
  • Expand the use of home incarceration and administrative release.
  • Work with community organizations, churches and social service agencies in underserved or vulnerable areas to provide youth with alternative activities than crime.
  • Prioritize funding to provide better data collection and analysis to improve policing.
  • Provide incentives and funding to secure statewide adoption and promote crime data sharing across the state.
  • Review existing laws and adjust if these create roadblocks to responsible crime data sharing.
  • Research and deploy ways to dedicate funding for more robust mental health and drug rehabilitation systems to divert some cases away from law enforcement.
  • Expand resources to increase use of CITs (crisis intervention teams), a collaboration between law enforcement and mental health professionals, with a 40-hour training program for public safety officers on behavioral health and de-escalation strategies.
  • For youth who are disruptive in their schools or communities, provide more mental and behavioral health interventions that include evaluation and treatment rather than detention and involvement with the criminal justice system.
  • Expand trained CITs in law enforcement agencies across Missouri, and develop corrections crisis response teams in corrections facilities.
  • Improve identification and treatment of serious mental illness in incarcerated individuals, and arrange continued, community-based treatment after release.
  • Provide resources to employers to help identify substance use disorder in their workplaces, and provide training for establishing recovery-friendly workplaces to give Missourians an opportunity to recover rather than turn to crime.
  • Collect data on recidivism rates in Missouri and develop an action plan for addressing high-risk groups.
  • Analyze parole officer caseloads and focus staffing on high-risk populations. 
  • Identify ways to help remove barriers to successful re-entry, such as housing and employment opportunities.
  • Support expansion of the Kansas City Chamber’s pilot program that provides a connection and commitment by employers to provide second-chance employment. 
  • Enact a recently proposed expungement law for certain nonviolent charges to expand access to employment opportunities for low-level offenders. 
  • Provide social support services, such as the Certificate of Relief program, so lower-level offenders don’t end up with housing and employment disqualifications.
  • Create a state tax credit for businesses that hire former offenders.
  • Conduct a statewide public safety compensation review and prioritize funding accordingly.
  • Clarify or change the ability of state and local governments in Missouri to provide signing bonuses, referral bonuses and performance incentives for public safety officers. Currently, the state constitution appears to ban extra pay in some situations.
  • Offer a public safety officer apprenticeship at several locations in Missouri.
  • Increase investment in Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) academies and provide more scholarships for law enforcement officers to receive POST certification.
  • Consider a statewide law enforcement recruiting website similar to the new TeachMO.org site for educators. This site consolidates information on training, internships and scholarships. It is also paired with a teacher recruitment and retention grant program for which local areas can apply. Tools such as these can boost recruitment for public safety positions.
  • Prioritize state-level policies that will help to rebuild trust in law enforcement professionals and improve communication between police, communities and young people.
  • Deploy an honest, comprehensive, long-term, statewide public relations campaign offering positive messages about the role of public safety professionals. 
  • Encourage businesses to drive home the message that public safety is important to talent attraction, employee retention and business expansion.
  • Encourage public safety departments to do more community engagement, especially with youth. This could include in-school police presence and programming and working closely with community-based organizations.
  • Conduct a statewide review of prosecutors’ staffing and caseloads to identify problem areas and solutions to address them.
  • Conduct a statewide review of prosecutors’ approaches to crime and their outcomes to identify best practices and policy.

SAFER MISSOURI, STRONGER MISSOURI

This report guides the establishment of a new business-led, statewide approach to reducing crime, which is impacting businesses and communities of all sizes.

SEE OUR PROGRESS ON THIS DRIVER

Use the interactive dashboard to view our progress toward our Protecting Health and Safety goals.

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