ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The St. Louis County Police Department says despite double-digit drops in major crimes, a new crime trend is on the rise – people failing to pull over for traffic stops.
Chief Kenneth Gregory talked about the issue during the county’s Crime Commission meeting Thursday, saying it shows “a lack of respect for law enforcement.”
And, he says, there’s not much police can do about it because county officers do not get into pursuits for low-level offenses.
“Word gets around to those guys out there, ‘Hey, the police are not going to chase you for certain violations for certain things, so if you just don't stop, then more than likely you're not going to get chased,’” Gregory said. “So with that, with the word going around social media, or whatever, the numbers are going up.”
St. Louis County police are pursuing people for serious crimes about 60% more often than last year, according to the chief’s presentation. But, out of those 52 pursuits, 10 of them were called off by supervisors and another five were called off by officers.
The county has only tracked the number of people who flee from officers during traffic stops for about a year, so there’s not a lot of data to compare over time. But, Gregory says the number of incidents has risen every month since it’s been tracked.
In all, 1,883 traffic stops resulted in someone failing to yield – and that represents about 7% of all traffic stops county officers have made so far this year.
“These guys are running crazy in the street and it's not the police chasing them,” Gregory said. “So just be careful."
“We'll be on the lookout for speeding vehicles. I do it myself at every stop sign, every stop light I come to, I'm just not jumping out there because you never know what's coming through the intersection," he said. "So just be more aware of the traffic out there.”
A bill that would make fleeing from a police officer a felony sponsored by former St. Louis County Officer Justin Sparks failed in the legislature, so the crime remains a misdemeanor offense.
Department data shows the majority of people fleeing from police happens in the following areas:
- Unincorporated North St. Louis County Precinct 1: 536
- Jennings Precinct: 519
- South St. Louis County Precinct 4: 302
- Highways patrolled by St. Louis County: 205
- Affton Precinct 3: 117
- Central County Precinct 2: 104
- Bureau of Transit Police: 32
- West St. Louis County Precinct 7: 31
- Fenton Precinct 5: 14
- Wildwood Precinct 6: 14
- K9 unit: Nine
Gregory also discussed other crime trends during today’s meeting.
He said stolen vehicles continue to be the number one crime with very little change.
Homicides are down by nearly 30%. Of the 33 homicides the county police have investigated throughout the areas it patrols, nine victims have been women, which is an unusually high number, Gregory added.
Reported sexual assaults are also down by 23%, and shootings are down by about 17%.
Human trafficking cases jumped to 19 from 1 at this point last year, but Gregory noted one case involved 10 victims.