ST. LOUIS – A former St. Louis County police chief is now trying to become a member of the St. Louis County Council. Tim Fitch announced Wednesday in Sunset Hills that he is running as a Republican for the third district council seat. The seat is currently held by Republican Colleen Wassinger, but she is not running again.

Fitch was on the St. Louis County Police force for 31 years. He was Chief from 2009 until 2014. Fitch, who is 56, says he will not accept any campaign contributions. He says that his top priority is public safety.

“What I want to do is make sure that police departments in St. Louis County, all of them including county police, have the resources they need. The cooperative measures, together with the city of St. Louis, and whoever else we can bring into this to address these issues,” said Tim Fitch. He added, “We have to get a handle on violent crime in this community. Everybody thinks that just the murders are happening in the city of St. Louis, they’re not. St. Louis County’s murders are up significantly over the last few years. What are we going to do about it? I think we’re headed in the right direction by adding additional police officers.”

Fitch opposes a merger between St. Louis city and county and he wants voters to set campaign donation limits for elected officials. He also wants to look at the way Lambert Airport is run.

Fitch is currently the Manager of Global Security for Emerson Electric and also owns a public safety consulting business.