With Gov. Mike Kehoe’s abduction of control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department complete, he is contemplating a board that will face a daunting task – doing as well as the current administration when it comes to reduction in crime.
During the first three months of 2025, a historic decline in crime in the city has continued.
St. Louis has experienced its lowest number of homicides, 23, since 2005, January through March.
After the first quarter of 2024, the city recorded 40 homicides.
During the same period, there were 36 homicides in 2023, 37 in 2022, and 43 in 2021.
Compared to last year, there has been a reduction of 45% in homicides. In addition, robberies are down 20%, burglaries are down 33%, and auto thefts are down 39%, year-to-date. Shooting incidents and shooting victims are also down 39%, respectively.
“Residents, visitors, and businesses in St. Louis deserve to live in a safe city, and we continue to make our city safer each and every day,” Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said in a release.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck effort, and these positive numbers wouldn’t be possible without the brave men and women of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, our community partners, and the residents who work with us to prevent crime and hold bad actors accountable.”
Chief Robert Tracy said there has been “positive progress,” but there is much more to accomplish.
“As we enter the next quarter, we will remain steadfast on the mission to protect and serve, while working with our community and Crime Control Strategies to strategically deploy our patrol resources.”
Among those successful strategies is creation of the Office of Violence Prevention, which includes violence intervention programs, collaboration with dozens of community organizations such as Show Me Peace (de-escalation and life coaching), the Diamond Diva Empowerment Foundation (supporting survivors of domestic violence), and Living in Victory (housing for people recovering from substance abuse).
The office’s goal “is to stop violence before it happens by helping people get onto and stay on a non-violent path where they can thrive.”
Since Jones’ election, police officer salaries have been raised twice, including raises ranging from 8% to 13% in 2023. Jones also recently signed another round of raises of up to 7%.
Crime statistics for the City of St. Louis are accessible to the public and can be found on SLMPD’s website at www.slmpd.org./stats, while a map of where crimes are recorded can be found at www.slmpd.org/mapping.