Fitch, a former county police chief who represents parts of Manchester, Chesterfield, Kirkwood, Sunset Hills and Fenton, accused Better Together of cherry-picking data.

Fitch said the Better Together presentation relied on old data on how many police departments remained unaccredited, failing to reflect big improvements since 2015.

“Doesn’t that give you an idea of where we’re going with this?” Fitch said to the crowd.

Terri Franks, of north St. Louis County, was the only person to speak publicly in support of the merger.

“A lot of people in this room do not bear the brunt of an accredited or an unaccredited police department,” said Franks, who is black, in a direct address to the mostly white audience. “The people who do, who don’t have a voice, are not here, and they can’t be here for many reasons.”

Franks said she was speaking for people in neighborhoods without resources.

“With this group (Better Together) I don’t know, but all I do know is that St. Louis is always in the top one through 10 in crime (and) murders. But everything is still OK with these governments? These fragmented cities are fine? No, they’re not.”