i m wondering if there s a federal presence there. i know obviously, the depart of justice coming in the context of policing post-ferguson was an important turning point. i m wondering if there have been fbi investigations of these fires. yes, so the atf on the scene working with local authorities, both local police and fire arson investigators. but as of yet, we have not had any leads that we know of. and certainly have not arrested anyone yet. most of these fires, as you noted, have been at african-american churches. the last one, though, seemed to be a different pattern. at a more mixed church in a different area. so it s not clear if this is the same person or maybe even a copycat. hold on for me a second, alderman french. one of my guests, maria hinojosa would like to jump in. i was wondering when i first heard about this story, and i m sorry if this is a strange question, but the reward of only $9,000, i don t understand that. to me, it seems very small.
michael brown last year. all of the fires occurred near ferguson where last year they found a pattern of discrimination against african-americans. burning churches has been a tactic deployed by white supremacist groups for decades and a living memory of the civil rights movement. when it happens again, regardless of whether or not we know the actual motive, in this case, the linkage is made through the feeling, the experience of community. joining me now from st. louis is antonio french, alderman of the 21st ward in st. louis. nice to have you here, alderman french. good morning. again, i want to be really clear. we don t know anything about the motivation of the arsonists, but i wonder how the community is receiving and reacting to these fires. yeah. well, the community has really come together, religious leaders from various faiths, from different denominations have come together to stand together against this act of faterror, really.
officers around the country are not actively policing. is that a conversation there in st. louis and what s the nature of that conversation? yeah, that s been a conversation from the very beginning. there were some talk from some in law enforcement to explain an increase in crime as somehow the ferguson effect. i think if there is a ferguson effect, it is that vital connection, that relationship between community and police, has been broken and damaged. and it s very difficult for police to do their jobs without the support of the community. it s very difficult to catch crimin criminals, especially violent criminals and murderers without people coming forward. that s why that relationship is very important and we have to do whatever we can do to repair it as quickly as possible. it s how some of these, some of these discussions about accountability relate to high crime rates. thank you to alderman antonio french in st. louis, missouri, this morning.
relationship with the police association. there is 28 alderman in st. louis. with the vast majority, except for the handful, we have a relationship. engaged. trying to move the community forward. alderman french has been an on sta skull. we begged him to come to the table with us when he was trying to advance civilian oversight board. and have this interaction, this , he is the most dismiss sieve alderman in st. louis city government. braef iefly. we have to go. we sat down. tried to work out language. any level of accountability has been rejected by jeff and union leadership. i want to make a clear distin tkttion. the officers who work in our neighborhoods, the officers we have a relationship. many officers have great relationships with our community. but not with you, alderman. not with you, alderman.
haven t made any progress over the last year because of the because of the anti-police rants that folks like alderman french have gone on. it s been very unproductive. and it hasn t contributed to any forward movement. i want you to be able to respond to that? yeah, so jeff is a union official continues to aindividual aavoid any level of additional police accountability. were s the most accountable let the alderman speak. you can respond. thank you. if we sat done as partners and tried to better 0 oour communit. the fact is for many of the communities, such as jeff is not a member of the community. so that jeff and the rhetoric that he has been spouting, has become the face of policing in st. louis, is a dangerous thing both for citizens and police. so i think jeff need to check his own behavior if heave really wants to help us move forward. jeff, what about that? yeah, listen, most of the alderman have a good