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Civilian Oversight commissioner warns budget cuts will slow complaint investigations amid state takeover
Summary
The Division of Civilian Oversight told the St. Louis Board of Aldermen budget committee that proposed cuts to its FY2026 budget and eliminated investigator and client-service positions would slow investigations and reduce community engagement just as state actions are reshaping police oversight.
Civilian Oversight Board Commissioner Dr. Barbara Milen told the St. Louis Board of Aldermen Budget & Public Employees Committee on May 12 that proposed reductions in the division’s FY2026 budget will slow its ability to investigate complaints and to do community outreach.
The division, Milen said, is charged under state law with receiving and investigating public complaints about the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and detention facilities and “promoting transparency, fairness, and public accountability through impartial and independent professional standards and inquiries and investigations.” She cited RSMo § 590.6532 and City Ordinance 71,749 as the division’s statutory authorities.
Milen framed the immediate impact of the proposed budget cutbacks in staffing and contracted services. “We requested independent legal counsel and funding to maintain investigator positions and a client services coordinator,” she said. She told the committee the FY2026 proposal removes two legal investigator positions and eliminates a client-service role that the division uses to support surviving families and manage community outreach.
Louisa Lyles, a legal investigator with the division, told the committee the office is carrying a backlog of 753 complaints across detention and police matters. Lyles gave year-by-year complaint tallies for police complaints: 155 in 2021, 126 in 2022, 181 in 2023 and 197 in 2024, and she said the office had about 75 complaints so far in 2025. For detention-facility complaints she reported 26 in 2022, 35 in 2023 and 33 in 2024.
The division also asked the committee to restore funds for an independent legal counsel contract (Milen described a $75,000 budget request) and for access to an investigative case-management system the staff called “Regis,” which Milen said would cost about $10,000. Milen said access to case-management software would improve investigative capacity and recordkeeping.
Committee members questioned how state actions affecting the police would change the division’s role. Milen said the office has adjusted its work plan to align with categories identified by the state but that the division still plans to pursue community engagement as a separate document and to continue monthly coordination meetings with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the city justice center.
Milen and Lyles described operational barriers that have slowed investigations, including limits on board member access to detention facilities, training delays for newly appointed board members and staffing constraints. Lyles said the division has not been able to present cases to the boards while many members completed orientation; she said the boards were due to begin hearing cases the following month.
Several aldermen pressed for clarification of outcomes previously reached by the division. Lyles described differences between the division’s findings and internal affairs reports she receives and said the division sometimes finds additional violations when it reviews the same material. She described an ongoing practice in which the office reviews internal affairs investigations, examines camera footage and medical and police reports, and then generates its own findings for board consideration.
The committee did not take a vote on any COB-specific budget line during the hearing. Members and the commissioner discussed follow-up items — including written documentation of the division’s pending caseload, requested software access, and the precise dollar amounts the division seeks for independent counsel — and Milen said she would provide additional details to the committee for further consideration.
Ending: The division asked the committee to restore investigator and client-service positions, fund independent legal counsel and approve access to an investigative case-management system. Commissioners and staff said they would provide documentation of complaint counts, the software request and the program’s staffing needs to assist the committee’s budget decisions.
