Police residency rules are local matters

St. Louis police officers who don't like a requirement that they live in the city they serve have gone to great lengths to undo the residency rule. They are seeking relief from the Missouri legislature. In the process, a bill that would ban such residency requirements in any first-class county has been approved by the House and is on its way to the Senate.

Local jurisdictions ought to have the right to set residency rules without state interference. In Cape Girardeau County, which is a first-class county, only the sheriff's department has such a rule.

By going to the legislature, St. Louis officers leapfrogged the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners, which is appointed by the governor and is the governing board of the department. As a result, the bill goes far beyond the concerns of St. Louis officers and seeks to impose a state clamp on residency rules. That goes too far.