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St. Louis bans electric scooters downtown in push to prevent crime

Crowds of teens over the weekends have continued to create issues of crime in downtown St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Public Safety Department laid new plans to help prevent crime downtown on Monday.

The decisions and the department’s weekly engagement and safety meeting came after two teenage girls were shot and wounded Saturday night.

There have been problems all spring and summer with teens gathering in the streets.

5 On Your Side pressed public safety officials during a weekly meeting on Zoom Monday about their plans to help stop the crimes involving youth.

Public Safety Director Dan Isom said that until further notice, electric scooters in the Downtown and Downtown West neighborhoods were banned.

Isom added that starting this weekend, police officers will work 12-hour shifts Friday through Sunday to increase law enforcement presence and laid out other methods they will continue.

“Try to engage them with positive activities so we continue to do that," he said. "We have youth ambassadors that are downtown."

Another big part of the plan moving forward will be to put more pressure on parents and guardians.

"The next step is to figure out how we can hold parents accountable for young people who repeatedly come down and cause problems downtown,” Isom said.

Isom also reiterated the St. Louis Sheriff's Department’s ongoing presence on the weekends.

Deputies will be in places St. Louis police officers cannot be and fill gaps when needed. He made clear they are there for presence, but not enforcement.

Attracting residents and businesses to the downtown area is something longtime resident co-chair of the Downtown Neighborhood's Association’s Safety Committee wants to maintain.

“Come up with some advocacy efforts to make sure we're communicating those to city hall and other stakeholders," Tucker said.

His group has continued to push for regulating short-term rentals.

“We still think that commonsense regulation through an ordinance is the only way to actually police these units in an effective way downtown," Tucker said.

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