Sydney Miller, The Associated Press and Tim Lloyd http://news.stlpublicradio.org/

Next month, St. Louis City police sergeants are set to decide who will represent their interests at work, and the St. Louis Police Officers Association says it is the best option on the table.

At a meeting last night, members of the St. Louis Police Officers Association made their case to sergeants.To punctuate their point they brought in Chuck Canterbury, the National President of the Fraternal Order of Police.

 "St. Louis Police Officers Association (has a) 44-year history of defending rank and file police officers," Canterbury said.  "And if there's a sergeant in St. Louis Who doesn't think he's a rank and file police officer I'll be real shocked, I'd sure like to meet him."

A similarly-named organization, the St. Louis Police Leadership Organization, which says it's focused on representing police management, has filed a lawsuit alleging that sergeants have been illegally denied overtime pay for the last three years. But the Police Officers' Association business manager, Jeff Roorda, says the better approach is negotiation before legal action.

"If you can't get this negotiated at the bargaining table then take a step back and say do we sue or do we not sue," he said.

Ballots are set to be cast June 14, but a voting mechanism has yet to be put in place.