Inspector Clouseau Is On the Case; St. Louis Edition.

Police are stepping up patrols and trying to develop a profile of whomever has set six fires outside churches in predominantly black neighborhoods since Oct. 8, Police Chief Sam Dotson said Tuesday. ... But Dotson said investigators have yet to confirm that race was the motive. If race or religion proves to be the reason, he said, police will seek to have the incidents prosecuted as hate crimes.

The chief noted the variety of denominations and types of structures targeted. They include Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist and nondenominational congregations — four on the north side of St. Louis and two in Jennings. They vary from the relatively grandiose historic brick structures of St. Augustine Catholic Church and Ebenezer Lutheran Church to the modest storefront used by the New Testament Church of Christ.

The fires have been happening at black churches. What would be the harm in saying something along the lines of "while we're keeping all avenues of the investigations open, that is something we are strongly looking into."

The firemen get it:

Investigators have no suspects or motives. But the possibility of a hate crime — for religious or racial reasons — "is part of the dynamic" of the investigation, St. Louis Fire Capt. Garon Mosby said.

But there is an additional wrinkle to this story:

The St. Louis Police Officers' Association is offering to double the $2,000 reward already being offered for information leading to the arrest of the culprit in a string of fires that have now hit six predominantly African-American churches in and around St. Louis.

The police union in St. Louis, as in other cities, has been stalwart in fighting every attempt to implement oversight of the police department. If a cop were to taze a guy down and then walk over and put two bullets into his head, the union would be the first to have the cop's back. So this is a nice bit of reaching out.