To the editor:

Can you imagine a gang taking over your neighborhood — terrorizing residents, destroying property and creating complete chaos for hours — only to call the police for help and have no officers arrive for more than an hour?

That is exactly what happened in the Bevo Mill neighborhood on Sept. 6.

St. Louis City police were already dealing with another serious emergency and simply did not have the manpower to respond to two major incidents at the same time. This is a warning sign we can no longer afford to ignore.

For too long, police departments across the St. Louis region have been understaffed, underpaid, criticized and depleted to the point that they are increasingly stretched beyond their ability to provide the level of protection our families and neighborhoods expect.

And this problem is not limited to St. Louis City.

St. Louis County police are also understaffed. When Proposition P was passed, taxpayers were promised a police force of approximately 1,000 officers. Yet today, the department has considerably fewer officers than the roughly 890 it had at that time.

Now, County Executive Sam Page has warned that as many as 200 police officers could be laid off if he and the County Council do not find a way to properly fund the department by the end of the year.

The County Council and county executive need to stop playing political games with public safety.

They have known about these budget problems for years, yet the situation continues to deteriorate. Our families, neighborhoods, schools and businesses depend on a properly staffed and adequately funded police department.

I don’t know what it will take for county leaders to finally get their act together — but we should not have to wait for a public safety disaster before they act.

Missouri Rep. Jim Murphy Oakville