St. Louis police officer praised for good work, then let go in city council meeting
Getting recognized for doing a good job isn’t always a good thing, as one American police officer discovered.
Kristopher Weston, 28, was a police officer in East St. Louis, Ill. Weston responded to a grocery store robbery and promptly found and apprehended a man who turned out to be a murder suspect. As a result of his quick and effective work in getting a dangerous man off the streets, Weston was invited to a city council meeting to receive a commendation.
However, a few minutes after praising Weston, the city council moved on to the next item on their agenda — budget cuts that eliminated the jobs of several city employee, including five police officers. Weston, who had only been on the police force for 10 months, was one of the officers on the block because of his lack of seniority.
The mayor of East St. Louis told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the new officers on the force were among the best in the department, but seniority rules.
