Jeff Roorda

Jeff Roorda
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives
from the 113th district
In office
2013–2015
Personal details
Born (1965-03-30) March 30, 1965
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Residence Barnhart, Missouri
Alma mater Missouri Baptist University
University of Missouri-St. Louis
Website

Jeffrey Roorda[1] is an American politician, author, labor leader and police spokesman. He was a Democratic member of the Missouri House of Representatives, serving from 2005 to 2011 and 2013 to 2015. Roorda served as House Minority Whip from 2009 to 2011. A retired police officer, he is currently the executive director and business manager of the St. Louis Police Officers Association (SLPOA), Lodge #68 of the Fraternal Order of Police, the union representing rank-and-file officers of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD). Roorda has been a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News Network and other news outlets providing commentary on matters related to law enforcement. Roorda's first book, The War On Police, was released to critical acclaim [2] in November 2015.

Early life

Jeff Roorda was born in St. Louis, Missouri on March 30, 1965, the oldest of two sons. He lived in St. Louis with his parents and younger brother until he was twelve years old when Roorda's family moved to Arnold, a St. Louis suburb in Jefferson County, Missouri. Roorda graduated from Windsor High School in Jefferson County. Roorda received an associate degree in Criminal Justice from Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Missouri and later went on to earn his bachelor's degree from Missouri Baptist University and his Masters in Public Policy Administration from University of Missouri - St. Louis. Roorda married his wife Nancy in 1994. They have three daughters.

Career

Roorda worked in law enforcement for seventeen years.[3] He began his career as a 911 dispatcher for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in 1986. After two years with the St. Louis Police force, he went on to work as a police officer in Arnold, Missouri a city in Jefferson County. Roorda was a decorated undercover narcotics detective during his career in Arnold serving on local and federal task forces that netted some notable drug arrests and public corruption cases. Roorda worked for Arnold until 2001, when he was fired for allegedly making false statements in a report he had filed about a domestic incident involving his police chief.[1][4] Roorda appealed his termination and the Fraternal Order of Police, who represented him in the appeal, demanded an independent investigation by the City of Arnold. The independent investigation unearthed some startling, well-publicized details about corruption in the administration of the Arnold Police Department and ultimately led to the termination of the Arnold chief and his second-in-command for some of the very same misconduct Roorda had initially reported.[1]

He was elected to the local ambulance district Board of Directors in 2001 and the local fire district Board of Directors in 2002. In 2002, he also became chief of police and city administrator in Kimmswick,[3][4] another city in Jefferson County.

In 2004, Roorda retired from law enforcement after he successfully ran as a Democrat for State Representative for Missouri House District 102. Roorda was re-elected in 2006 and 2008. He served as the House Minority Whip, the third highest ranking House Democrat, from 2009 to 2011. Roorda was no stranger to controversy, frequently making fiery speeches on the House floor or sponsoring high-profile legislation that garnered local and national headlines.[5][6][7] Roorda was considered the leader of the moderate wing of the Missouri Democratic party during his tenure as Minority Whip. He was unapologetically supportive of Second Amendment rights and he publicly opposed abortion except in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother. He was also an ardent defender of labor unions and public safety workers. Roorda unsuccessfully ran for a fourth term in office in 2010 when he and thirteen other moderate Democrats in the Missouri Legislature were swept from office in the 2010 Tea Party wave.

Roorda briefly returned to law enforcement in 2011 accepting a position in Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Public Safety. Roorda worked out of the Missouri Office of Homeland Security on a number of anti-terrorism projects. Shortly after taking the position with the state, Roorda was offered a position as the executive director[8] and business manager[9] of the St. Louis Police Officers Association (Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 68) in the Spring of 2011.

In 2012, Roorda was elected as a State Representative in Missouri after re-districting moved him into the 113th House District. Roorda retained his position with the St. Louis Police Officers Association working only part-time with them while the House was in session. Facing looming term-limits in the Missouri House, Roorda ran for State Senate in 2014 in the vacant 22nd District, which covered the northern half of Jefferson County. He fell short in a close election as the strength of his Tea Party opponent and the unpopularity of President Obama in Jefferson County and neighboring counties led to a virtual clean-sweep for Republicans in the St. Louis suburbs.

Roorda returned to full-time work with the St. Louis Police Officers Association just as the protests and social unrest that followed the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson began. He helped the Fraternal Order of Police with the fundraising for Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who was under investigation and ultimately exonerated for the controversial killing of Michael Brown. Roorda repeatedly publicly defended Wilson in his capacity as spokesman for the St. Louis Police Officers Association and for the FOP charity the Shield Of Hope.[4] He became a nationally recognized police spokesperson appearing regularly on CNN and FOX as well as a number of other cable and broadcast networks.

Roorda was part of several high-profile stories in the wake of Ferguson and other deadly police encounters around the nation. In November 2014, Roorda demanded an apology from the NFL following a public "hands-up; don't shoot" display of protest by several members of the St. Louis Rams after the St. Louis County Grand Jury had already exonerated Darren Wilson.[10] In January 2015, Roorda demanded that police officers attempting to testify at a public hearing on a proposed civilian oversight board be allowed to speak. The Ferguson protestors present at the hearing began rioting inside the hearing room. They later blamed the riot on Roorda for wearing an "I am Darren Wilson" bracelet at the meeting of the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis and accused him of pushing a woman as he was approaching the chairman of the aldermanic committee even though video of the incident clearly shows the woman shoving Roorda.[11][12][13][14] Roorda also grabbed national headlines in March 2015 after saying that the Ferguson protestors "finally got what they wanted" when two police officers were shot and seriously wounded outside of the Ferguson Police Department during a demonstration. Roorda continues to appear on CNN and FOX, as well as the St. Louis news talk show The Allman Report, providing commentary on police related matters.

Roorda is a candidate for the County Council in Jefferson County in November 2016.

Late in 2015 a controversial, critically acclaimed book by Roorda, The War on Police, was released with a "generous" portion of the profits going to Wilson.[15] The book is slated for re-release in the Fall of 2016 by WND Books out of Washington DC, a division of World Net Daily.[16] Roorda is a frequent guest contributor at World Net Daily's news website wnd.com.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "ROORDA v. THE CITY OF ARNOLD". FindLaw. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  2. ↑ Post-Dispatch, Harry Levins Special to the. "St. Louis police union spokesman tells his side in 'Ferghanistan'". Retrieved 2016-08-17.
  3. 1 2 "Jeff Roorda". jeffroorda.org.
  4. 1 2 3 "Ferguson fundraiser mystery solved -- or is it?". Los Angeles Times. September 2, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  5. ↑ Peters, Jonathan (June 12, 2014). "Allowing police to shoot someone without creating a record you can see". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  6. ↑ Boehm, Eric (August 15, 2014). "Missouri Lawmaker Tried to Restrict Public Info on Police Shootings". Newsmax. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  7. ↑ "HB 1466". openstates.org. The Sunlight Foundation. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  8. ↑ Schlinkmann, Mark. "New Melle, Crystal City and Troy, Mo., may buy 'body cameras' for police officers". 23 February 2014. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  9. ↑ Kaste, Martin (August 28, 2014). "Zero-Tolerance Policing Is Not Racism, Say St. Louis-Area Cops". National Public Radio. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  10. ↑ Mathis-Lilley, Ben (Jan 29, 2015). "Controversial St. Louis Police Rep Involved in Scuffle at Civilian Oversight Hearing". Slate. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  11. ↑ Swaine, Jon (29 Jan 2015). "St Louis Police Official Unapologetic after Pushing Woman at Public Meeting". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  12. ↑ Lippmann, Rachel (Jan 29, 2015). "Chaos At Hearing On Civilian Oversight Bill Highlights Ongoing Divisions Between Police, Community". St. Louis Public Radio. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  13. ↑ Toler, Lindsay (Feb 2, 2015). "Woman Files Assault Complaint Against Police Union Rep Jeff Roorda After City Hall Brawl". Riverfront Times. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  14. ↑ Byers, Christine (Feb 16, 2015). "Controversial St. Louis Police Union Leader Muzzled When it Comes to Civilian Review". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  15. ↑ Briquelet, Kate (Aug 12, 2015). "'Ferghanistan' Author: I'm Giving the Profits to Darren Wilson". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  16. ↑ "WND Books The War on Police". wndbooks.wnd.com. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
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