Former St Louis police chief Daniel Isom speaks after he is put in charge of public safety in Missouri. Photograph: Huy Mach/AP
The Missouri
governor Jay Nixon has appointed his adminstration's only black cabinet
member nearly three weeks after the shooting of a black 18-year-old by a
white police officer led to violent protests in the St Louis suburb of
Ferguson.
Nixon said the former St Louis police chief, Daniel Isom, will take over as director of the Missouri department of public safety on 1 September.
The appointment comes after Nixon faced
criticism both for the lack of racial diversity among his department
leaders and for the state's response to protesters and looters following
the shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson
on 9 August.
Nixon did not directly say whether the leadership change was related to the events in Ferguson. He said Isom "has experience and training in law enforcement that are almost unmatched".
"I work constantly to try to make sure we have a government that reflects the citizens of the state," Nixon said at a press conference.
In the days after Brown's shooting, local police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who refused to disperse. Nixon eventually put the state highway patrol in charge of securing Ferguson with a more relaxed approach.
After one relatively calm night, however, police stood by as people looted stores. Nixon then imposed a curfew, lifted it after a couple of nights of clashes between police and protesters, and called in the national guard.
Tensions have lessened in recent days, but Nixon did not say how long the patrol would remain in charge of securing the neighbourhood near where Brown was killed.
Isom, as public safety director, will oversee both the patrol and the guard.
He joined the St Louis police department in 1988 and served as its chief from October 2008 until he retired in January 2013. He currently serves as a professor in the department of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri-St Louis.
Although Isom will be Nixon's only black cabinet member, he is not the first. Kelvin Simmons served as commissioner of the office of administration from 2009, when Nixon became governor, until he left in 2012 for a private-sector job.
Nixon said the former St Louis police chief, Daniel Isom, will take over as director of the Missouri department of public safety on 1 September.
Nixon did not directly say whether the leadership change was related to the events in Ferguson. He said Isom "has experience and training in law enforcement that are almost unmatched".
"I work constantly to try to make sure we have a government that reflects the citizens of the state," Nixon said at a press conference.
In the days after Brown's shooting, local police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who refused to disperse. Nixon eventually put the state highway patrol in charge of securing Ferguson with a more relaxed approach.
After one relatively calm night, however, police stood by as people looted stores. Nixon then imposed a curfew, lifted it after a couple of nights of clashes between police and protesters, and called in the national guard.
Tensions have lessened in recent days, but Nixon did not say how long the patrol would remain in charge of securing the neighbourhood near where Brown was killed.
Isom, as public safety director, will oversee both the patrol and the guard.
He joined the St Louis police department in 1988 and served as its chief from October 2008 until he retired in January 2013. He currently serves as a professor in the department of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri-St Louis.
Although Isom will be Nixon's only black cabinet member, he is not the first. Kelvin Simmons served as commissioner of the office of administration from 2009, when Nixon became governor, until he left in 2012 for a private-sector job.
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