Marathon Pundit: More East St. Louis blues: Questionable cops hired

Well, I broke down in East St. Louis.
Tom Waits, "The Train Song," 1987.

More trouble from a troubled Illinois community: East St. Louis. Even Chief Ralph Wiggum of the of The Simpsons would hang his head in shame over this episode.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

After swearing in 10 police hires this month, Mayor Alvin Parks proudly told the audience "you are as safe as anybody now, in this city, in this room."

He praised a city committee for choosing the officers from a pool of 29 candidates and for performing background checks.

But documents obtained by the Post-Dispatch revealed that two of these new officers had criminal histories, and one of the two even took the oath of office with an outstanding arrest warrant for domestic battery.

The top recruit — the son of Police Chief Michael Baxton — had been released from the Army for misconduct. The records of several new hires are marred by arrests for misdemeanors, extensive traffic citations and multiple bankruptcies.