BALLWIN, Mo. — St. Louis County first responders gathered for a town hall Wednesday to talk about the challenges and crimes they’re facing in county neighborhoods.
St. Louis County police say in West County, property thefts from vehicles are down 36%, thefts of car parts specifically catalytic converters are down 61% and the number of stolen vehicles is down by 25% compared to last year.
But that doesn't mean they want people to let their guard down.
“The fact that our efforts are out there and it's publicized, that there are cameras, that these enforcement efforts are happening. We try to get that out in the media that are part of prevention, too, that if these individuals come out this way, we're looking for you and we're going to stop you and we're going to make the effort to arrest you,” St. Louis County Police Captain James Mundel said.
Manchester police Chief Scott Will said they continue to push a campaign called Lock It or Lose It, urging people to lock their vehicles because of the behavior they're seeing from thieves.
“The bad guys will walk down the street and they will just try doors. And every time it's a locked door, they go down to the next car and they just try and car doors until they can get into one,” Will said.
Chief Will says if you see someone trying to take your vehicle or your neighbors don't try to take matters into your own hands.
“We have seen a lot of videos where someone's breaking into a car while his partner is covering the house. Now, that's very rare out here. I don't want to scare everybody. But my point here is that if you see somebody doing some something like that, please call 911,” Will said.
Police say in addition to thefts they're also dealing with an increased number of fentanyl deaths and overdoses and have to go beyond talking about it in schools.
“We talk to people that have these type of substance use disorders. We're saying, hey, we know you may have a problem with another substance, but drug cartels and distributors are mixing fentanyl in these drugs. And it also has the potential to kill you as well,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency official Colin Dickey said.
Police chiefs from the west county area want citizens to get involved with their police departments and reach out to them. They are even doing some more programming with kids who might be interested in law enforcement.