urbanSTL

symphonicpoet wrote:^Events happening too often is different from events happening more often. Nobody should have to deal with people breaking in to their house, so anytime it happens is too often. But it could still be happening less than in some previous era. Anybody have any actual statistics on this or are we just going to keep repeating anecdotes?

A quick look at the Post Dispatch Crime Tracker shows that crime in the city and county overall is down dramatically since 2006. 2021 property crime sat at just over 50% of 2006 levels, if their reporting is to be believed. The neighborhood level data is a bit more dated. You can look at 2020 vs. 2019, but they don't seem to have the detailed 2021 breakdowns in the system yet. (Incidentally, it was down over 13% in 2020 vs. 2019 both downtown and downtown west, though violent crime was up downtown in both neighborhoods in the same period.)  I don't see 2021 numbers yet, but I find it a little hard to believe that it'd be up dramatically downtown when it's down so much overall area wide.

For what it's worth, violent crime numbers are also down from 2006 pretty dramatically. 2021 stood at just over 70% of 2020 levels. But if you read comment sections on NextDoor or elsewhere you'll get the idea the apocalypse is taking place. We may have a long way to go yet, but we seem to be moving the right direction. Consistently year over year. The trend is pretty obvious, even.

Anyway, I'm not seeing any reliable evidence crime is up downtown up at all and the opposite seems more likely. So . . . does someone have some hard numbers to the contrary?

mikenewell48 wrote: ↑

Jun 04, 2022

A study gave cash and therapy to men at risk of criminal behavior. 10 years later, the results are in. Liberia found a stunningly effective way to reduce violent crimes. Now the US is trying a similar experiment. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23141405/violence-crime-cbt-therapy-cash-shootings

Laife Fulk wrote:I haven’t found any stats on callers who give up before they have their 911 call answered, but there’s evidence/statistics that show that there are long wait times (at least data up through 2021).

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/cri ... 63c0f.html

Based on this article, 5% of calls waited more than 2 minutes. And only 64% of 911 calls were answered in 10 seconds or less.  I’ve had multiple experiences in the last year where I called 911 (once after witnessing a drunk driver cause a bad accident and another two due to gun shots) and was on hold for multiple minutes before the call was answered.

(If there’s data for 2022 that shows improvement, that’s great news. I just didn’t find anything in my search)

shadrach wrote: ↑

Jun 07, 2022

I'll weigh in----I was a guest at the hotel association board meeting about six weeks ago and this topic discussed in-depth. They were frustrated with lack of policing, need for earlier curfew, looked into geo-fencing (doable but extremely challenging and imprecise, IIRC Nashville(?) tried to go this route. This is not a STL only problem), looked at shutting down scooters at 7:00pm (another challenge), police tracking offenders though GPS/credit card/CCTV (SLPD stretched too thin). They did NOT want to remove scooters as hotel guests and downtown workers enjoy them. 

However—At BPV, (maybe other hotels?) they've had gangs speeding through the lobby and other interior parts of the building. Very dangerous, but with training and vigilance, were able to (mostly) shut that down. Also, swarms would go through the garages, checking cars for valuables. On the scooters, a half-dozen riders could canvass the East and West garages in minutes. Car break-ins have soared since the scooters. (don't ask about 'stats,' relying a discussion). The easy access to garages was the real problem that couldn't be solved with costly renovation or hired security. I had no idea it was this bad. Seems like everyone—hotels, residents, businesses—were at wits end trying to not go nuclear. The resolution was to keep the scooters and, pun intended, so how long could ride it out.

Regarding 'haters' never riding them, I can say the hotels did NOT want to remove the scooters but I think they felt the had no choice. As bad as it is, I'm sure they're like no scooters is better than this. It's sad.