ST. LOUIS — Crime in the City of St. Louis has decreased compared to last year, according to crime data the city released on Thursday.
The data compared crimes committed in St. Louis in August 2024 to crimes committed in August 2023. It showed that violent crime overall has gone down 2.2%, property crimes have gone down 12.6%, crimes against society - such as drug violations, betting, prostitution and driving under the influence - have gone down 6.3% and unspecified crimes have gone down 26.2%.
Homicides, specifically, were down 23% compared to last August (from 13 to 10) and down about 42% from August 2020.
From Jan. 1 through Aug. 31, the city saw 106 homicides, which was down from the same time in previous years:
- 106 homicides from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, 2024.
- 109 homicides from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, 2023.
- 136 homicides from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, 2022.
- 123 homicides from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, 2021.
- 183 homicides from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, 2020.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department's clearance rate for murder investigations has also risen, with 75% of cases cleared in 2023 and 66% cleared so far in 2024.
Other notable declines in crime rates were seen in counterfeiting/forgery (down 72%), carjackings (down 35%), motor vehicle theft (down 31%) and DUIs (down 29%), according to the report.
The numbers line up with FBI data from 2022 that shows continual decreases in violent crimes since 1993.
"I think it's not a question of statistics. It's a question of whether people feel safe in a neighborhood," said Les Sterman, a Citizens for a Greater Downtown St. Louis member.
Homicides in downtown St. Louis are down by one in the past year. However, there was an increase in shooting victims.
Conner Kerrigan, a spokesman from Mayor Tishaura Jones' Office, said downtown murders are declining.
"Downtown, year over year, has seen a decrease of 40% in violent crimes since Mayor Jones took office in 2021, so there are certainly other neighborhoods where we're seeing those continued violent crimes," said Kerrigan.
The neighborhoods that have seen the most significant increase in murders in the past year are Downtown West and Dutchtown.
"That is very misleading. You have to look at all portions of downtown. If you pull up downtown West, you'll see a lot bigger numbers," Sterman said.
As a downtown resident, Sterman said he's skeptical about the data and would like to see more police officers around.
"We hear gunshots periodically. We hear sirens. You know, it's just a parade of sirens. The issue here is there have been ten homicides already this year in downtown and over 60 shooting victims. Frankly, we don't think that's anything that the mayor or the police chief should be doing a victory lap over," said Sterman.
The neighborhoods that saw the most considerable decrease in murders were Fountain Park and Hyde Park.
"Every single homicide in the city of St Louis is an unnecessary tragedy. But what I keep telling folks is this is progress, not perfection. Perfection would be zero violent crime every month. What we're mostly seeing is that there is a small concentration of the population that is both the perpetrator and the victim of violent crimes. Through our prevention, intervention, and enforcement efforts, we're focusing on those areas of the city and continuing to see that decrease," Kerrigan said.
Mitch McCoy, a spokesman for St. Louis police, said they have a potential software vendor for an interactive crime mapping portal that will hopefully be available soon. Once it is available to the public, they hope the turnaround time for reporting crimes is 24 hours.
While numbers were down overall, there was an increase in some crimes - including a 133% increase in arson incidents (from three in 2023 to seven in 2024) and a 22% increase in shoplifting (from 69 to 84) - and little to no change in other crimes - such as aggravated assault, credit card fraud, weapons violations and animal cruelty.
"I am incredibly proud of the work down by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the Office of Violence Prevention and other city departments and community parents to improve our performance on prevention, intervention and enforcement," St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said in a statement.
Click here to view the full crime report.
In June, the FBI reported violent crime was down nationwide for the first quarter of 2024. Compared to the same time last year, murder was down 26.4% in the U.S.