The number of homicides dropped in East St. Louis last year, according to new data released Thursday by Illinois State Police, which is the lowest level in nearly a decade.
In 2024, the Metro East city recorded 20 homicides. At the most recent peak in 2017, that same figure stood at 37.
Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly told Illinois Public Media on Thursday the data shows “a very good downward trend.”
The state agency has partnered with the East St. Louis Police Department since 2020 in what’s called the Public Safety Enforcement Group — or PSEG. Kelly, formerly the St. Clair County State’s Attorney before Gov. JB Pritzker appointed him to lead the state agency in 2019, said the partnership between the state and city has worked well to reduce violent crime in the city.
“This urban policing model that we've been using for the past four years is producing a very good trend in the right direction for homicides and for other gun violence,” Kelly said.
Last year’s homicide figures equate to a 46% decrease since the peak in 2017. Over the last four years, the city’s population dropped by 820 people, a decrease of more than 4%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Non-fatal shootings also dropped last year, ISP data show. In 2024, law enforcement reported 57, which is dramatically less than 121 recorded in 2019.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Ali Summers said her office has shared the partnership model with other U.S. Attorney’s offices across the country that also struggle with high reports of gun violence.
This partnership continues to allow for the state troopers to help the city’s officers on violent crime investigations, which has happened since the 1980s in East St. Louis. It also bolsters law enforcement’s involvement in the community by partnering with the city’s school district and a faith organization.
East St. Louis is not alone in seeing portions of its violent crime decrease recently.
St. Louis had its lowest number of homicides last year since 2013, and overall crime in the city is down 15% since 2023, according to the city’s police department. Last year there were 150 homicides, down from 160 in 2023.
Nationally, homicides across the United States dropped in 2024 from a pandemic spike, according to the Council of Criminal Justice.
Illinois State Police plan on moving their regional headquarters from Collinsville to East St. Louis. The project, originally announced in 2022 and expected to take at least three years to complete, is now anticipated to be finished in 2027, according to ISP.
