ST. LOUIS — For weeks, we've been trying to get a St. Louis leader to go on camera and explain their strategy for bringing down the number of carjackings.
We've talked to St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden, Mayor Lyda Krewson and Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. None gave us specifics.
U.S. Attorney for Eastern Missouri Jeff Jensen was much different.
According to St. Louis police, they've received 272 reports of carjackings this year. Not all of those go to the circuit attorney's office. Many are referred to the U.S. attorney's office, if they meet certain criteria.
The two-key criterion – if they involve out-of-state criminal activity or if suspects attack multiple cars.
Jensen said in the last year, his office has prosecuted two to three times more carjacking cases than his office did last year. He said that's partially to do with a new partnership with the circuit attorney's office.
Jensen said he and the circuit attorney's staff meet at least once a week and go over each case together.
If they can get a stiffer sentence from federal carjacking charges his office will take it over.
So how do we reduce the amount of carjackings we see in St. Louis?
Here's Jensen's strategy.
"Prosecute people extremely aggressively and get them off the streets, but that's not a long-term solution. So we work with a number of community groups to try to help build these community groups at the same time. For example. The Urban League Save our Sons program is focused on the chief's rectangle and they’ve created more than 500 jobs in the area," said Jensen. "You've got Better Family Life that's done 55 de-escalation of ongoing shooting battles."
When 5 On Your Side spoke to Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and she could not give us specific numbers as to how many carjackings they've prosecuted.
Her office doesn't track those.
The U.S. attorney's office does, and Jensen said so far his office has worked on 226 cases just this year.
The reason Missouri does not have a specific carjackings statute is that the federal government does, which makes it a lot easier to count.
Missouri is one of 27 states that do not have a specific carjacking criminal statute.
