Jeremy Kohler
Reporter | ProPublicaJeremy Kohler is a St. Louis-based reporter covering issues in Missouri and the Midwest. He came to ProPublica in January 2021 from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where he worked for more than 20 years. Kohler previously worked as a reporter for the Gloucester County Times, Trentonian and Courier-Post newspapers in New Jersey. He has also served as an adjunct journalism instructor at Washington University since 2003.
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With a high violent crime rate and claims of inequitable policing in St. Louis, local leaders are questioning the $100,000 per year Chief Robert Tracy receives from local business owners. “Can the criminals get together and pay the chief?” asked one alderwoman. -
In St. Louis, murder investigations often rely on a single detective, making them vulnerable if the detective is unable or unwilling to come to court. But a former homicide investigator said he has no obligation to cooperate, claiming that “retirement is meant to be retirement.” -
Across the country, police have undermined and resisted reform. To protest a prosecutor, one detective was willing to let murder suspects walk free, even if he’d arrested them and believed that they should be behind bars. -
Following a ProPublica investigation, a St. Louis official said the city would review private policing in its wealthier neighborhoods. Three months later, that review has yet to begin. -
A St. Louis ordinance lets courts banish people from huge swaths of the city as a punishment for petty crimes. These neighborhood orders of protection often prevent people from accessing the services they need and raise constitutional questions. -
Wealthier neighborhoods in St. Louis have armed themselves with private police, giving them a level of service poor areas can’t afford and fueling racial and economic disparities. -
Abortion foes praise the nonprofit centers for supporting women and presenting alternatives to ending pregnancies, but supporters of abortion say the facilities mislead women by appearing to offer clinical services and unbiased advice.
