ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - An overflow crowd showed-up Monday night at the Urban League of St. Louis headquarters for a public safety town hall meeting.
Circuit attorney Gabe Gore talked about prosecution efforts, "When you have violent offenders who are repeatedly offending in gun crimes, it's important to have effective prosecution in place. That's what we've been doing."
City police chief Robert Tracy responded to a question about why his officers aren't being seen in neighborhoods, by saying they are down 300 from just three years ago, "They are seeing less police because we have to leverage technology and make sure we do intelligence-led policing. We try to get to places where there's patterns and trends, where things are happening. That's so we can get out in front of it and be proactive and not reactive in policing."
Some audience members interrupted public safety director Charles Coyle when he reported life at the city jail is a microcosm of the city itself. He said there have been 15 deaths at the CJC since 2020, and the largest number were from natural causes.
After Coyle was shouted-down, Board of Alderman president Megan Green stepped-in with a proposal to have a public safety committee hearing specifically on jail treatment, "That action has to start with hearing some of the pain and concerns here in this room tonight, while recognizing we don't have the time (tonight) to do this subject the justice it really requires."
Panelists agreed strides are being made in reducing violent crime in St. Louis, but it's going to take more community cooperation and resources to keep it going.
Physician L.J. Punch said there are lots of unhealed wounds in the community. Punch called on the city and its business community to do more to insist the circle of violence ends, "If no-one got shot again ever in the city of St. Louis, we would (still) have enough pain to fuel generations of trauma."
Copyright 2024 Audacy (KMOX) All rights reserved
