ST. LOUIS — The new chief of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department takes over on Monday, Jan. 9.
Neighbors are excited about the potential positive changes Chief Robert Tracy brings to the job.
"We hope that he is successful and loves St. Louis," said Rhonda Jones, a board member of Academy/Sherman Park Neighborhood Association. "We've got critical issues happening in our neighborhood with gun violence and speeding. My neighbor lost his daughter, a young woman with four children on New Year's Eve, a hit and run."
Violent crimes in 2022 were down 23% compared to the year before. In Jones' neighborhood, it's down 55%.
The Ethical Society of Police has previously released this statement:
ESOP aspires to work diligently with the new chief towards making the agency equitable and fair for our officers and develop better community policing for all.
We have long called for more transparency and input. That starts with our plans to meet with the new chief in the immediate future to discuss our priorities, concerns and perspective.
We will hold him to high standards as we have previous chiefs and do everything we can to work together and support progress.
Chief Tracy comes to the department with much scrutiny but neighbors are eager to see how a new regime will continue to make our city safer.
The city will pay Tracy $175,000 and the St. Louis Police Foundation is kicking in another $100,000, making him the highest-paid chief the city has seen as well.
At a press conference announcing him as the new chief, Tracy listed his experience working at the New York and Chicago police departments before he took over as chief in Wilmington, Virginia. He said the city there was dubbed “Murdertown, USA” by Newsweek, and later was heralded as going from “Murdertown to Turnaround Town.”
Wilmington is a city of about 70,000 people. St. Louis' population is about 300,000.