Robert Tracy

The House also passed legislation barring state funds from going to diversity, equity and inclusion programs and a bill shielding companies from having to place specific cancer warnings on pesticides.

The legislation heard in Senate and House committees would place the St. Louis police department under a governor-appointed board.

The change to the current contract between the city and the St. Louis Police Officers Association will boost an officer’s starting pay from $53,196 to $56,920.

The mapping tool, which department officials said cost “several thousand” dollars, gives people several different ways to view crime in the city.

Homicide numbers continue to drop after a near-record high in 2020. Shootings and burglaries are up slightly in 2024 compared to the same time last year.

Federal authorities have sentenced 15 members of south St. Louis gang 55 Boyz for fentanyl dealing, gun crimes and money laundering. The investigation involved St. Louis police and federal agents.

In the past decade, police solved fewer than half of the homicide cases with Black victims and two-thirds of the cases with white ones.

There were 17 people shot in the city in 10 cases from Friday to Sunday. Three of the victims later died.

With a high violent crime rate and claims of inequitable policing in St. Louis, local leaders are questioning the $100,000 per year Chief Robert Tracy receives from local business owners. “Can the criminals get together and pay the chief?” asked one alderwoman.

As public safety officials celebrate record-breaking crime lows in parts of the St. Louis region, community members continue grieving losses.