St. Louis, MO (KTRS) St. Louis is taking a new approach to addressing the city’s crime problem.
A news conference was held on Monday, where Mayor Francis Slay announced his executive order of establishing a community Crime Commission. The fifteen member body is designed to provide an additional level of oversight and expertise as the City implements its comprehensive PIER Plan of short, medium, and long-term strategies to reduce crime.
“Crime reduction is my number one priority in the city of St. Louis. Until every neighborhood is safe, until everyone can live in their neighborhoods feeling safe, until every person can work and play without fear of criminals lurking to harm them, we have a lot more work to do.” Slay said.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson says the Crime Commission, along with the PIER Plan will offer an opportunity to engage the community and “hopefully address some of the systemic issues that are most often manifested through crime.”
Slay has asked commissioners for a two-year commitment to serve as citizen experts on the PIER Plan. The Commissioners will provide expertise from their fields, monitor implementation of programs and policies, identify non-traditional partners to engage, and provide feedback and input on updates and strategies. Commissioners also will seek input from aldermen, the Circuit Attorney’s Office, state court judges, federal law enforcement officials, and the state Attorney General’s office.
The Commission will meet on a quarterly basis. Those meetings will be open to the public.
Slay has named the following 15 people to serve on the City’s Crime Commission: :
Dr. Kelvin Adams, St. Louis Public Schools
Mack Bradley, Standpoint Public Affairs
James Clark, Better Family Life
Bridget Flood, Incarnate Word Foundation
Bruce Franks, 28 to Life
Erica Henderson, Promise Zone Director
Beth Huebner, UMSL Department of Criminology &Criminal Justice
Ginger Imster, Arch Grants
Rod Jones, Grace Hill
Missy Kelley, Downtown STL, Inc.
Whitfield Montgomery, St. Louis Public Schools
Carrie Pettus-Davis, Washington University School of Social Work
Nedim Ramic, Bajric &Ramic Law Office
Joe Walsh, St. Louis Cardinals
Joe Yancey, Places for People
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police Department has released its 2015 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) statistics, which show a 2.2 percent increase overall in crim in St. Louis.
St. Louis had 188 murders in 2015. Of those murders, 179 involved guns.
