Missouri public safety director reflects on leadership role

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Next month, Missouri's public safety department will be under new leadership after the agency has been led by Sandy Karsten for more than six years. 

Since 2018, the Missouri Department of Public Safety has been overseen by Karsten. Throughout her time in that role, the state went through COVID, crime increased, and Missouri experienced a tragedy at the Chiefs' Super Bowl celebration. 

"I was the first female from the lieutenant rank, captain, major, lieutenant colonel, and then the colonel, and now as the director," Karsten said in an exclusive television interview with our Missouri Capitol Bureau Chief Emily Manley. 

Her title might be history-making, but she's been tasked with responding to historic events and tragedies. 

"I was also the colonel at the time of the duck boat tragedy," Karsten said, recalling the Branson tragedy that took place in July 2018. 

Earlier this year, divisions within her department provided lifesaving care at the deadly Kansas City Super Bowl parade when shots rang out, killing one and injuring dozens of others. 

"We had troopers on the ground," Karsten said. "We also had the Disaster Medical Assistant Team there to provide assistance. We had doctors and nurses there that actually treated victims of the shooting and treated victims being trampled."

DPS also assisted local communities during COVID-19 by helping with vaccination clinics. 

Karsten will step down as director in January. Before leading DPS, she served the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) for more than three decades. 

"We see more guns now than we've ever seen before," Karsten said. "If you talk to a local trooper or you talk to a law enforcement officer, we stop people who are armed. There are good people, and then there are also bad people."

During her leadership role at DPS, Karsten pushed for more license plate readers to capture suspects and raised awareness that first responders needed mental health resources. 

Throughout her career, she said she saw the shortage of police officers grow. 

"We've seen declining numbers even back then," Karsten said. "When Ferguson hit, that was something that also impacted the people that would be coming in the door for law enforcement, 21-year-olds. That impacted their willingness to look at law enforcement and public service in general as a future career."

Her successor is no stranger to Missouri law enforcement or the department.

Mark James is a former state and federal law enforcement officer. He worked at MSHP for nine years before being recruited to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in 1987. In 2005, he was appointed by former Gov. Matt Blunt to serve as DPS director. Most recently, he was appointed by President Donald Trump as the United States Marshal of the Western Judicial District of Missouri. 

Missouri's incoming governor said Karsten's retirement is a great loss to the state. 

"Mark James has some big shoes to fill, but he will be very good and another great critical piece to that crime plan," Governor-Elect Mike Kehoe said. 

Karsten will retire from DPS on Jan. 13. Her message to Missourians is to support law enforcement at a time when there's a staffing shortage and to put your phone down while driving because there are more pedestrian deaths in Missouri this year than ever before.