St Louis Crime lowest since 1967 (Kansas City, St. Louis: appointed, violent crime, credit)

[stlcitygirl]

Police say St. Louis crime numbers lowest since 1967

Good news

[aragx6]

I was disappointed that there was one more murder than last year, but it does appear that, all in all, violent crime is down. I know that article is full of some nay-sayers (and I can't even imagine what the comments must be like!), but I am pleased to hear this!

[stlcitygirl]

^
There was one more murder, but keep in mind that three of the murders were from the ABB disgruntled employee shooting last January. That was an extremely rare situation.

[flynavyj]

Didn't STL City change the way they reported City Crimes this year though as well? Such as a group of idiots goes on a car break-in rampage, they hit an entire neighborhood and vandalize 18 vehicles, as opposed to that being 18 separate instances, it's suddenly only one...Leave that as you may, 140+ murders in 61 square miles is still horrendous no matter how you roll it or smoke it.

[lifelongMOgal]

IIRC, St. Louis PD & Mayor Slay have historically had political motivations in the way in which they chose to report/or failed to report, crime.

If this report is indeed accurate how many St. Louians are willing to give partial credit to the succesful implementation of CCW in Missouri in the reduction of violent crime?

[flynavyj]

Oddly enough, the vast majority of CCW individuals i know don't reside in the city, but far into the Burbs....often, VERY far. And come to think of it, with the exception of one friend/duck hunter, none of my other friends who are city residents have any firearms in their home...However, somewhere close to 2/3 of the county friends do.

[lifelongMOgal]

Originally Posted by flynavyj

Oddly enough, the vast majority of CCW individuals i know don't reside in the city, but far into the Burbs....often, VERY far. And come to think of it, with the exception of one friend/duck hunter, none of my other friends who are city residents have any firearms in their home...However, somewhere close to 2/3 of the county friends do.

But when they travel into the city they are no longer targets and the predators are left guessing as to whom is prey.

From the OP's linked article:

In his report, Atkins said two-thirds of the 144 homicide victims in 2010 were African-American males ages 17 to 39. Half were from north St. Louis; 71 percent had prior felony arrests; 60 percent had drugs or alcohol in their systems; and 15 percent were believed to be affiliated with gangs.
"They are primarily young black males who are both the victims and the suspects," Isom said in an interview. "The root causes are education, unemployment and poverty."

This is very similar to what happens in Kansas City and one particular corridor within the city where most of the murders seem to occur.

[aragx6]

^This is very similar to what happens in all cities.

[BoomBoxing]

This is great news. While I don't want to get into a whole political thing, I highly HIGHLY doubt ccw has anything to do with it. I also don't know any fellow city residents with ccw's. I do know some who own guns though.