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A shake up may be coming to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department -- that is, if Police Chief Sam Dotson has his way.

The chief wants to dismantle and reorganize some specialized units - moving members of the Rapid Deployment Unit into precincts, and putting gang unit detectives under a single command working from the downtown headquarters. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Chief Dotson will ask the Board of Police Commissioners Wednesday for permission to make those changes and to put SWAT, narcotics and drug task force officers under the same command as patrol officers.

Dotson told the paper that the moves will make the department more flexible.

He's also expected to ask for permission to accept donations to beef up hot-spot policing efforts.

St. Louis Police will be out in force today, patrolling a north side neighborhood that has seen three murders in the past two weeks.

About 80 officers will saturate the College Hill neighborhood this morning. And Chief Sam Dotson says the extra patrols will be there until they've contained the violence.

Dotson says the College Hill intervention is an extension of the city's hot spot policing program.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that police plan to conduct roll call in the street, station a command vehicle on site, use dog patrols and make a door-to-door plea for help in solving recent shootings in the neighborhood just west of I-70 and north of downtown.