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RESOURCES FOR CITIZENS AND BUSINESSES
Home Security Surveys
Officers from the Department will conduct security surveys, free of charge, to all residents of the City of St. Louis. The officer will give you pointers on proper locks, landscaping and lighting to reduce your risk of becoming a victim. To schedule an appointment use the contact information to the right.

Robbery Prevention Safety Training for Business
The Department offers classes for businesses to teach employees how to prevent robbery and how to respond should a break-in occur.

Fraud Prevention
The St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office offers free Fraud Prevention Seminars. Contact their Fraud Prevention Task Force at 612-1412 or visit the Circuit Attorneys Website. For more information on Fraud Prevention, visit the Inside SLMPD section of this website.

Citizens who have been contacted by a fraudulent or suspicious organization should contact the St. Louis Chapter of the Better Business Bureau at 314-645-3300 or visit their website for more information.

Citizen Service Bureau
Many nuisance issues are handled by the city's Citizen Service Bureau. If you have concerns about refuse collection, street maintenance, traffic control signals and signs, street lights, requests for building inspections and health inspections, stray or vicious dogs, accumulations of trash and weeds or similar problems, contact them at 314-622-4800 or visit their website.

Preventing Crime at Home

If you don't belong to a Neighborhood Watch Program join one or form a new group if your neighborhood doesn't have one. Contact the Community Outreach officer in your district for more information.

Take a critical look at your home every four months to see if its secure.

Use a padlock on your garage door.

If you're going out of town, load luggage into the car inside your garage. Don't advertise you are going out of town.

Lock all windows and doors when you leave your home, even if you will only be gone for a short time.

Install quality dead bolt locks with one inch bolt lengths on each door in your home.

Use an alarm system. While no system will make your home 100 percent safe, a quality alarm system can be an excellent crime deterrent.

Install a wide angle (180 degree) peephole on doors. This will allow you to see those outside your door but prevent anyone from seeing you.

Make sure your street address number is clearly visible from the street especially at night in case you require police service.

Illuminate your residence at night and regularly replace bulbs. Use timers and motion detectors if possible.

Secure pet doors, ventilation windows and other entrances to your home.

If you are going out of town, stop mail and newspaper deliveries or have a trusted neighbor of friend pick them up in order to avoid the appearance you are out of town.

Don't leave spare keys in recognizable spots.

Get to know the people who live around you so you can recognize suspicious activity and persons.

Call police if you see any suspicious activities.

Don't leave valuables visible to those outside your home.

Mark valuables with contact information. Make a note of their serial numbers and take pictures. These can be used to help police if you become a victim of a crime.

Put all your tools away in a secured garage or shed so that they cannot be used to assist a criminal in breaking in your home.

Preventing Crime at Businesses

Utilize video surveillance - consider federation, if possible, to our Real Time Crime Center. Real Time Crime Center Federation

Ensure the use of quality locks on all exterior doors/windows/

Contract with an alarm company which immediately notifies law enforcement of activations​ - post the alarm companies notices/stickers on the exterior of the business.

Leave cash registers empty overnight​ - if registers are visible from the exterior, leave the drawers open to show they are empty.

Secure safes in concealed areas away from public view.

Lock interior office doors when the business is closed.

Use lighting which remains on overnight in publicly visible areas from street view.

Secure roof access to the building.

Preventing Auto-Related Crime

Use a "club" or other steering wheel device.

To purchase a "club" or other anit-theft devices, visit the Department of Revenue's License Fee Office, 1200 Market, Room 110 or the Five Star Senior Center, 2832 Arsenal.

Try to park your car in a well-lit area.

Check in, around and under your vehicle for suspicious persons before entering.

Lock all doors after entering your vehicle.

If possible, keep your car parked inside of a garage instead of on your drive-way or on the street.

Always lock your vehicle, even if you are only leaving for a few minutes.

When walking to your vehicle, always have your keys in hand so you won't have to fumble for them, making yourself an easy target for criminals.

NEVER leave a running vehicle unattended.

Completely close all your windows when you park the car.

NEVER leave your title or other important paperwork inside your car.

Consider installing an alarm.

Don't leave valuables in your car. If you do, make sure they are kept out of plain sight-hide them under a blanket, or better yet, lock them in your trunk.

When transporting valuables, place them in the trunk before you get to the location where you intend to park. Don't transfer them at the parking place in open view of other people.

Always keep plenty of gas in your vehicle so you do not have to stop at unsafe locations or times.

Never pick up hitch-hikers.

If you have car trouble, try to get to a safe, well-lit spot, put on your emergency flashers and display a "Send Help Sign" if possible.

If you are being followed while driving your car, drive to the nearest police station or gas station. If there are no safe places to stop, honk your horn in short rapid blasts and turn on your emergency flashers. Call 911 and try to obtain a license plate number and description of the vehicle that is following you. NEVER drive home or pull to the side of the road.

When leaving your vehicle, always remove detachable faces for stereos and GPS units.

Trust Your Intuition. If you feel threatened or something doesn't feel right, take action immediately.

Pay close attention to your surroundings.

Know safe places in the areas where you live, work and play.

Don't let strangers get too close to you, even if they seem to have a reason.

Carry as few items as possible.

Walk with a purpose. Know where you are going ahead of time.

Avoid shortcuts that take you through alleys, gangways, and other unlit, isolated areas.

Have a plan before you see trouble. Be prepared to cross a street or duck into a store, if needed.

Carry a small amount of cash, and only the credit cards that you intend to use.

If carrying a wallet, carry it in a front pocket.

Leave your expensive jewelry at home.

Don't wear clothing or shoes that restrict your movement.

Public Transportation Safety Staying Safe at Work

Place purses, wallets and other valuables out of sight.

When leaving work, walk with others. If you stay late, ask that a security guard or coworker walk you to your car.

Wear your company ID and report any suspicious persons who are unidentified.

Insist that repair workers and guests wear ID tags.

Don't get into elevators with people who make you feel uncomfortable.

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RESOURCES FOR CITIZENS AND BUSINESSES Home Security Surveys Officers from the Department will conduct security surveys, free of charge, to all residents of the City of St. Louis. The officer will give you pointers on proper locks, landscaping and lighting to reduce your risk of becoming a victim.

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Formerly known as the Saint Louis Regional Ceasefire Initiative, the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative was launched in 2001. It is an aggressive, comprehensive commitment to reduce gun crime within the Eastern District of Missouri by networking existing local programs that target gun and violent crime and providing locally-based members of law enforcement with the tools and resources they need to be successful. In 2006, in response to the growing problem of violent gangs across the country, Project Safe Neighborhoods was expanded to include a focus on gangs and gang violence. The goal is to use strategies and partnerships with state and local law enforcement and communities to shut down violent gangs.

Project Safe Neighborhoods is based upon three fundamental principles. First, it is comprehensive. While enforcement is a necessary and important aspect of crime reduction programs, the most successful initiatives marry enforcement with prevention and deterrence efforts. Second, the program is coordinated. Programs that ensure coordination between the enforcement, deterrence and prevention efforts are more likely to succeed than those that do not. Third, it is community-focused. Gun crime is local, and Project Safe Neighborhoods is sufficiently flexible to be implemented in a way that both responds to the specific problems within the Eastern District of Missouri and accounts for the particular local capacities and resources that can be dedicated to it.

Using these principles as a guide, the Eastern District of Missouri's Project Safe Neighborhoods program provides a multifaceted approach to deterring and punishing gun crime and gang violence by linking federal, state and local law enforcement, prosecutors and willing community leaders. Project Safe Neighborhoods contains five primary elements: partnerships, strategic planning, training, outreach, and accountability.

Partnerships: Project Safe Neighborhoods creates workable and sustainable partnerships between federal, state, and local agencies through joint initiatives. Coordinated by the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, Project Safe Neighborhoods includes both federal and local prosecutors, federal law enforcement agencies, local and state law enforcement agencies, probation and parole, and others where appropriate, such as representatives of local governments, social service providers, neighborhood leaders, members of the faith community, business leaders, educators and health care providers.

Strategic Planning: Recognizing that crime problems, including gun crime, applicable laws, and available resources within the Eastern District of Missouri differ from other locations throughout the United States, Project Safe Neighborhoods is continually tailored to address the specific issues present within the Eastern District of Missouri. The program's strategic problem-solving involves the use of data and research to isolate the key factors driving gun crime within the Eastern District of Missouri, suggests intervention strategies and provides feedback and evaluation to partners. For example, collaboration occurs with the University of Missouri-Saint Louis to utilize research tools, such as crime mapping to assist strategic planning for crime reduction by focusing resources on the most serious people, places and contexts of gun violence. Collaboration with Saint Louis-based federal agencies also occurs to utilize technology, such as gun tracing and ballistics analysis, to deter gun crime.

Training: The training element underscores the importance of ensuring that each person involved in the gun crime reduction effort -- from the line police officer - to the prosecutor - to the community outreach worker -- has the skills necessary to be most effective. As part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri routinely commits its resources to support local training of law enforcement agencies on topics including gun crime investigations, crime gun identification and tracing, search and seizure and other related issues. Nationally-supported Project Safe Neighborhoods training programs hosted by a network of national training and technical assistance providers are also available.

Outreach:Project Safe Neighborhoods seeks to convey to the community and media its priorities, results and message of the likelihood of federal prosecution for illegal possession and use of a gun. In doing so, the program seeks to build a strong and lasting coalition with the citizens of the Eastern District of Missouri so they can be agents of change in their very own communities.

Accountability: Project Safe Neighborhoods is outcome focused. That is, the program's success is measured by the reduction in gun crime. To do so, Project Safe Neighborhoods seeks to monitor levels of crime over time within targeted problems and/or targeted areas.

Of course, prosecution of gun crime and gang violence by the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri plays a critical role in Project Safe Neighborhoods. A significant portion of gun crime involves offenders with significant criminal histories. Project Safe Neighborhoods is built on the belief that the increased federal prosecution of gun offenders will reduce gun crime. Thus, by increasing the certainty that a prohibited person in possession of a firearm will face strong federal sanctions, the goal is to persuade potential offenders not to illegally possess and carry a gun. This often means prosecuting difficult cases.

Cases which arise from Project Safe Neighborhoods initiatives are considered a high priority. That is because federal, state and local Project Safe Neighborhoods partners favor federal prosecution whenever possible for multiple reasons. First, federal sanctions for gun crime are often more severe than those either available at the state level or likely to be imposed at the state level. Second, federal prosecution may include sanctions unavailable at the local level. Third, federal prosecution routinely results in pretrial detention for chronic offenders, speedier trial dates and stiffer sentences. More specifically, there is no probation or parole in the federal system. A common fear reported by young people arrested with a firearm is the possibility that their respective case might "go federal." Why? A person does "hard time for gun crime" if federal prosecution occurs.

Assistant United States Attorney Paul D'Agrosa has been designated as the Eastern District of Missouri's Project Safe Neighborhoods Violent Crime and Anti-Gang Coordinator. Mr. D'Agrosa is responsible for the day-to-day operation and monitoring of the initiative. Mr. D'Agrosa can be contacted at 314.539.2200.

Please visit the national Project Safe Neighborhoods web site at http://www.projectsafeneighborhoods.gov for additional information.

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Formerly known as the Saint Louis Regional Ceasefire Initiative, the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative was launched in 2001. It is an aggressive, comprehensive commitment to reduce gun crime within the Eastern District of Missouri by networking existing local programs that target gun and violent crime and providing locally-based members of law enforcement with the tools and resources they need to be successful.

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Crisis Response

The objective of the crisis response system is the early diversion of individuals in crisis or seeking crisis support using a targeted outreach and co-response with public safety personnel. The system will build upon, but not rely on, existing emergency services such as 9-1-1, with an aim to prioritize the use of non-law enforcement responses and interventions when most appropriate to address the social, health, and mental health needs of individuals and communities.

Programs

Co-Respondent

BHR's Justice and Crisis Response Unit (J-CRU) has created a first-of-its-kind street triage co-responder model where a trained J-CRU clinician partners with a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer. Clinicians travel on calls related to behavioral health such as mental health, substance use, trauma, quality of life events, self-sufficiency incidents, and more.

The Crisis Response Unit provides a first-, second-, and post-event response system. This model ensures CRU teams are the first to respond whenever possible, are called to the scene quickly when they are not the first to respond, and continue to follow up on cases after their first response.

Crisis Response Unit goals:

1. De-escalate individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis

2. Stabilize and develop a crisis response/safety plan with those is crisis

3. Divert individuals from jail and hospitalization to the appropriate regional system of care and community behavioral partners

4. Support for the community

5. Conduct follow-up and coordination of care

6. Track and report outcomes to our community partners and stakeholders

Call Diversion

A 24/7 service for St. Louis City residents. When an individual calls 911 and requests assistance, the 911 Communication Center dispatcher determines whether the individual could benefit from speaking to a mental health clinician. If so, they will transfer them to our crisis line. Clinicians will talk to the individual and support them through their crisis. The 911 Diversion program helps the community obtain crisis phone services if an emergency response is not needed.

Objectives:

1. Provide crisis phone support and de-escalation to divert the individual from unnecessarily going to the hospital

2. Conduct follow up, coordination of care services, and linkage to long-term supportive services

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Office of Violence Prevention Initiatives

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The objective of the crisis response system is the early diversion of individuals in crisis or seeking crisis support using a targeted outreach and co-response with public safety personnel.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Crime in St. Louis - Explore St. Louis

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If you are planning a visit to St. Louis, here's the first thing you should know: our community is safe and welcoming to everyone. In fact, St. Louis is as safe as any other major urban area in the United States. When traveling to any metropolitan area, visitors must remain...

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ST. LOUIS-It's the first week on the job for the new chief of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, and when it comes to the city's 2022 crime statistics, Chief Robert Tracy has his work cut out for him according to Richard Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

St. Louis saw 200 murders in 2022, the same number as in 2021, according to police data.

"There is a long way to go to reduce homicides in St. Louis to levels that are comparable to other cities like ours, but what is heartening is that we didn't see an increase in 2022," remarked Rosenfeld.

He pointed out the number of homicides is significantly down from 2020 when St. Louis recorded 263 murders.

When it came to aggravated assaults with a firearm, the city had 2228 incidents in 2022, a 7% drop from the previous year. Rosenfeld explained while not all those cases involved a shooting, the number is still "too high''.

Motor vehicle thefts shot up 78% in 2022 with 7366 reportedly stolen. Earlier in the year, St. Louis officials pointed to a rise in Hyundai and Kia thefts for the uptick. Nationwide, thieves were exploiting a security design flaw in the vehicles, a trend fueled by social media videos.

"We have a real crime problem and we have a crime perception problem," he said.

Rosenfeld said it is important to keep in mind the citywide crime statistics are driven disproportionately by serious violent crime in only a handful of city neighborhoods.

"What people tend to do is assume that what is happening in the areas of the city where violence is exceptionally high, to use that to kind of paint a broad brush over the entire city, as if all areas had violent crime levels that high," explained Rosenfeld.

He said there are crime problems downtown, but not close to the ones that exist in parts of north or south east St. Louis.

Rosenfeld told Spectrum News the biggest challenge Chief Tracy will have to overcome to reduce violent crime is two-fold: reduce firearm violence and to assure policing in the city is fair and equitable.

"He is well-positioned, it seems to me, to lead the department in the direction it needs to go to reduce crime of all kinds, and firearm violence in particular," Rosenfeld said. He said less is known about Chief Tracy's efforts on making sure policing is done fairly and equitably.

Chief Tracy, the first chief to come from outside the department, most recently held the same position in Wilmington, Del. where the city saw its lowest number of murders in 15 years, according to the city's 2022 Year-End Crime Report. Chief Tracy also held leadership roles in New York City and Chicago where Rosenfeld said departments were focused on crime reduction.

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St. Louis has a 'long way to go' to reduce crime, says UMSL criminologist

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ST. LOUIS-It's the first week on the job for the new chief of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, and when it comes to the city's 2022 crime statistics, Chief Robert Tracy has his work cut out for him according to Richard Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St.

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gun violence has been seen as "a way of life" instead of a very uncontrolled issue in the US and not properly dealt with. gun violence shouldnt be allowed or accepted but yet it is.

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A man changes a flag to half-staff near the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. AP Photo/Eric Gay

On Nov. 5, just 35 days after the deadly Las Vegas shooting, a man walked into a church in a small Texas town and murdered 26 people with an assault rifle. The coverage dominated the news.

But the day before, even more people - 43 - were shot to death in cities and towns around the country. And nobody really seemed to notice.

Shootings kill more than 36,000 Americans each year. Every day, 90 deaths and 200 injuries are caused by gun violence. Unlike terrorist acts, the everyday gun violence that impacts our communities is accepted as a way of life.

Of all firearm homicides in the world, 82 percent occurs in the United States. An American is 25 times more likely to be fatally shot than a resident of other high-income nations.

As public health scholars who study firearm violence, we believe that our country is unique in its acceptance of gun violence. Although death by firearms in America is a public health crisis, it is a crisis that legislators accept as a societal norm. Some have suggested it is due to the fact that it is blacks and not whites who are the predominant victims, and our data support this striking disparity.

Urban and racial disparities

Within the United States, the odds of dying from firearm homicide are much higher for Americans who reside in cities. Twenty percent of all firearm homicides in the U.S. occur in the country's 25 largest cities, even though they contain just over one-tenth of the U.S. population. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that of the 12,979 firearm homicides in 2015, 81 percent occurred in urban areas.

There is even more to the story: CDC data also show that within our nation's cities, black Americans are, on average, eight times more likely to be killed by firearms than those who are white. The rate of death by gun homicide for black people exceeds those among whites in all 50 states, but there is tremendous variation in the magnitude of this disparity. In 2015, a black person living in Wisconsin was 26 times more likely to be fatally shot than a white person in that state. At the same time, a black person in Arizona was "only" 3.2 times more likely than a white person to be killed by a gun. The combination of being black and living in an urban area is even more deadly. In 2015, the black homicide rate for urban areas in Missouri was higher than the total death rate from any cause in New York state.

These differences across states occur primarily because the gap between levels of disadvantage among white and black Americans differs sharply by state. For example, Wisconsin - the state with the highest disparity between black and white firearm homicide rates - has the second-highest gap of any state between black and white incarceration rates, and the second-highest gap between black and white unemployment rates. Racial disparities in advantage translate into racial disparities in firearm violence victimization.

Americans are 128 times more likely to be killed in everyday gun violence than by any act of international terrorism. And a black person living in an urban area is almost 500 times more likely to be killed by everyday gun violence than by terrorism. From a public health perspective, efforts to combat firearm violence need to be every bit as strong as those to fight terrorism.

The first step in treating the epidemic of firearm violence is declaring that the everyday gun violence that is devastating the nation is unacceptable. Mass shootings and terrorist attacks should not be the only incidents of violence that awaken Americans to the threats to our freedom and spur politicians to action.

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Gun violence in the US kills more black people and urban dwellers

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On Nov. 5, just 35 days after the deadly Las Vegas shooting, a man walked into a church in a small Texas town and murdered 26 people with an assault rifle. The coverage dominated the news. But the day before, even more people - 43 - were shot to death in cities and towns around the country.

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Gun Deaths Among Kids Keep Rising, But Studies Show State Gun Laws Can Help

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WEDNESDAY, March 29, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Following a mass shooting that killed three children and three adults at a private Christian school in Tennessee on Monday, public officials are