St. Louis officials are painting a relatively rosy picture of crime levels in the city.
“We’re seeing results,” said Mayor Tishaura Jones on Tuesday at the first quarterly briefing on the data. “A three-pronged approach of prevention, intervention and enforcement can yield results. But I want to be clear. Acknowledging our progress is not the same as ignoring our issues.”
Homicides are continuing to decline from a near-record high in 2020 – 116 as of Sept. 30. There have also been large decreases in theft, especially stolen cars, compared to the same time last year.
Shootings and burglaries are the two areas where numbers are up compared to 2023. St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department detectives wrapped up several major burglary investigations over the summer, said Chief Robert Tracy, and he expects that will help bring numbers down.
“We were able to successfully arrest five individuals between the ages of 16 and 19, and we're in the middle of investigating some of their associates,” he said. “More arrests will be forthcoming."
