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consultant to the city, including the St. Louis Police Department,
and meets often with Joyce as well as police chiefs, police academy
candidates, and St. Louis City Hall leaders, among others. The guy
who once had only negative thoughts about police officers is now
influencing public safety policy at the highest levels. “I got to know
him and realized right away that when this
person calls, I need to answer the phone,”
says Jon Belmar, St. Louis County police
chief. “He has no problem telling you when
you’ve messed up, but he has the ability to
listen and work things out. He’s invested
in this, and for the right reasons. I can’t tell
you how valuable that is.”
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One challenge Franks faces (although
he does not let it get in his way) is hostil-
ity on the part of activists in his native St.
Louis—people who still hate police just as
he once did. He has been called a traitor
and a spy by those who have no respect
for anyone who works with law enforce-
ment. “I get why people are skeptical,”
says Black Lives Matter’s DeRay Mckes-
son. But Mckesson also understands why Franks does what he
does, and he admires Franks for taking an active role in trying
to bring about improved police-community relationships. “He
doesn’t play a role that I would play,” says Mckesson. “But he
has clear reasons as to why he engages this way, and he has
integrity.”
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Campaign Zero
Although Mckesson’s approach is different from that of Franks,
he is also involved in trying to change the way police interact with
black citizens. Together with fellow Black Lives Matter activists
Johnetta Elzie, Brittany Packnett, and Sam Sinyangwe, Mckes-
son launched an endeavor called Campaign Zero. It is a police
reform effort that calls for stronger guidelines that limit the use of
force by police officers. One of the group’s goals is to end a po-
lice practice known as “broken windows.” The approach is based
on the theory that by ridding a community of low-level crimes
“When we think
about what Eric
Garner was doing the
day that he was killed
after being choked on
Staten Island—sell-
ing loose cigarettes
should never be
something that lands
you in a cof n.”
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—Black Lives Matter activist
and leader Brittany Packnett
