() Crime is on the decline in St. Louis, according to the local police department, which has reported a 50% reduction in homicides from 2020.
The decline follows a decision by Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe, who signed legislation to establish a new state board to oversee the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. This move was aimed at restoring order and fueling economic development.
“It’s a 50% decrease from where we stood in 2020. I see that as difficult progress,” stated Police Chief Robert Tracy. “Even with the 85 murders currently tallied, convincing a bereaved family that crime is decreasing is challenging because, in their reality, they have suffered a personal tragedy.”
For over 100 years, the St. Louis Police Department was under state control with the Board of Police Commissioners, comprising the mayor and governor-appointed commissioners.
This system, originating from the Civil War era, was abolished by voters in the 2012 election, granting the City of St. Louis sole governance over the department from 2013 onward. However, in March of the current year, state legislators enacted a bill reinstating state oversight.
Recently, St. Louis has gained notoriety as one of the most perilous cities in the United States. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, crime surged, peaking at its highest murder rate in more than half a century in 2020. By 2024, the city’s homicide rate was one of the highest nationwide, with 57.9 murders per 100,000 people, significantly surpassing the national average by 11 times.
joined Tracy for an inside look at the measures his team is undertaking to improve these figures, starting with a real-time crime center utilizing over 5,000 surveillance cameras across the city.
“You’re going to see a lot of locations where we do have cameras and where we do the chasing,” Tracy said. “They can take it, and they can try to find cameras in the areas to try to see if they can get ahead of it … a shooting, a robbery, a carjacking.”
But it may be some time before residents feel a change in the city.
“We’ve got a lot of foolishness going on. We’ve got kids getting killed every day. We have accidents every day,” said St. Louis resident Tony Steven. “You know, we just have a whole lot that’s going on that we need to get resolved.
Some residents said they’d still like to see more police officers in their neighborhoods.
“I’m always cautious. Always watching, looking around. There need to be more police to get more places faster,” said Sandra Webb, a resident of St. Louis.
According to Tracy, the department is about 80% staffed, which makes policing challenging. He said an increase in pay could help attract more officers to join the department.
“One way to recruit officers, you have to be competitive through economics, and that’s pay. We’re in the middle-to-low range for this region. Very difficult,” Tracy said.
According to a recruiting website for the department, the starting annual salary of a St. Louis Metropolitan Police officer is $53,196. In nearby Chicago, the starting salary for officers is $61,782.
While Tracy acknowledged there is still work to be done, he assured residents and visitors that St. Louis is safe.
“We have safe neighborhoods, but some of them get a bad reputation only because we have a higher percentage of people that are causing the problem,” he said.
