Crime in St. Louis dropped last year (Florida: violent crime, credit)

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Mokwa: Crime in St. Louis dropped last year
[LEFT]By Heather Ratcliffe
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH[/LEFT]
01/10/2008
[LEFT]
[SIZE=1]St. Louis Police Chief Joseph Mokwa[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1](File photo/P-D)[/SIZE]


Crime in St. Louis dropped nearly 16 percent in 2007 from the previous year with significant declines in the number of robberies, rapes and auto thefts, city officials announced today.

St. Louis police Chief Joseph Mokwa attributed the decrease to the hard work of his department and some creative initiatives that commanders launched in the last year.

“The credit for these reductions belongs first and foremost to the men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department, who every day in very challenging situations work tirelessly to do the best job they can to improve the quality of life in St. Louis,” Mokwa said at a press conference this afternoon.

Property crimes were down 16.6 percent while crimes against persons dropped 11.1 percent, according to the department. Murder was the only crime that saw in increase with a 7 percent.

Meanwhile, rape reports dropped 24.3 percent, robbery went down 12.3 percent and vehicle theft dropped 27.3 percent.

“At the beginning of 2007, I announced some very aggressive initiatives designed to help curb crime in our city,” Mokwa said. “I believe these initiatives have had a positive impact on our crime statistics.”

Among those new programs Mokwa cites was the 50-member “Crime Suppression Unit,” designed to identify “hot spots” and aggressively go after specific criminals.
City officials also touted the effects of a new crime mapping unit which pinpoints problem areas and aids commanders in planning crime suppression. The department's leadership also switched to the CompStat Model, created in the New York, which gives commanders daily statistics so they can better monitor crime trends.

Mayor Francis Slay and the police board challenged Mokwa to find new and creative ways to address crime after the city saw a year of more violence.

In 2006, crime rose 5.8 percent from the previous year following national trends. While murders dipped slightly that year, all other violent crime categories — rape, robbery and assault — went up.
[/LEFT]

STLtoday - News - St. Louis City / County (broken link)

[CarNutCass]

I'm not knocking you for posting this article but............

Statistics like that are so misleading. Let's face it, the majority of us do not live in St. Louis City proper and thus have never experienced the types of crime that sound so prevelant in that article. I'm 39 and have never been mugged, raped, robbed, carjacked, had a home invasion, etc.

Unfortunately, folks who are not familiar with St. Louis' excentricities would read these stats and think they applied to the region as a whole.

[aragx6]

Many, maybe most, people who live in the city proper have never had anything like that happen to them either.

It's great to see the numbers go down, though I'm unconvinced it's because of Mokwa and his tough stance on crime.

[tablemtn]

Police call for help after 4 murders in 11 hours - 2008 murder toll already EXCEEDS 2003 (http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/939E5BABA2387F618625746500112AC4?OpenDocument - broken link)

The city's murder total was 75 as of Tuesday — 20 more than last year at this time. For perspective, St. Louis recorded just 74 homicides in all of 2003. It is now on pace to finish with 169 killings, its highest total since 205 were slain in 1995.

Yikes! What's happening? What can be done to bring murder back down to 2003 levels, high as those still were?

[STLCardsBlues1989]

I don't know. The rest of crime is down, so it's strange that murder is up.

[LOnRainjer]

unemployment rates high, tough economy, dense population, drug control, gang control, boredom, competition, a complacent police force that could care less, wrong place at the wrong time, no values to dictate otherwise, people just dont care, It has that murder capital image to uphold. Its kind of like a thug in jail, what have they actually done to keep their street cred. Beautiful city but a reminder of why I left 25 years ago.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Crime overall in the city is down, while it's going up in St. Louis County.

But murder in St. Louis city has increased lately. You're still not real likely to get shot if you live in a fairly safe area.

[aragx6]

Murder is up in most major cities this year. The poster who mentioned the economy is right on- economic slowdowns almost always result in increased crime.

Not sure where in "floriduh" LonRainjer is from, but it's actually the southern part of this country that's seeing the worst crime this year- and South Florida is the worst: cbs4.com - Violent Crime Rises In South Florida (http://cbs4.com/local/FBI.violent.crime.2.744640.html - broken link)

[breer23]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

I don't know. The rest of crime is down, so it's strange that murder is up.

Not to be a smart-allic by asking this, but isn't it possible that other crimes are down BECAUSE murders are rising? Folks don't stab with knifes or assault with fists anymore - it's more about shootings...would like to see if any real correlation exists.

[aragx6]

Yes, but that doesn't explain why muggings, car break-ins and rapes are on the decline.
Interesting thought tho... I wonder if there are more gun-related crimes now as opposed to knife...