Anyone have any idea how the City is looking for homicides this month? The winter has been fairly mild so far.
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^ I believe we are at around a dozen so far, we had 15 at end of last January... I think we'll probably have to wait until the end of March/1Q to get any kind of sense on whether there might be any change in the trendline emerging.
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Isn't the other issue is to also compare trendlines nationally since if its rising nationally a flat trend would be a good sign by being below larger trends.
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We need more police officers that strictly enforce all laws and ordinances. Officers also need more pay. It's real simple however St Louis leaders have been incompetent addressing the crime situation.
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In terms of per capita police officers, we're in the top ten of all police departments in the country. If you include civilian employees we're in the top five. More officers might be the solution, but I would like to understand the trade-offs of more officers versus more cameras, for example.downtown2007 wrote: ↑Jan 27, 2017We need more police officers that strictly enforce all laws and ordinances. Officers also need more pay. It's real simple however St Louis leaders have been incompetent addressing the crime situation.
Are the police salaries paid by the city not competitive with nearby municipalities? Given the crime in the city, I can see an argument for paying the officers more, but one could easily interpret the comment that paying officers more will address the crime problem as implying that the current officers are intentionally not trying to address the crime because they aren't being paid enough. And that hasn't been my experience based on my interactions with police officers. Perhaps we have poor retention rates because of low salaries? Just trying to understand how increased salaries ties back to decreasing crime.
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Think of it as a business. You will attract and retain talented and well trained employees if you pay them $12/hr instead of $8/hr. Lower pay results in high turnover and the constant need for training new inexperienced employees which, if continues for the long-term, hurts business.hiddeninput wrote:In terms of per capita police officers, we're in the top ten of all police departments in the country. If you include civilian employees we're in the top five. More officers might be the solution, but I would like to understand the trade-offs of more officers versus more cameras, for example.downtown2007 wrote: ↑Jan 27, 2017We need more police officers that strictly enforce all laws and ordinances. Officers also need more pay. It's real simple however St Louis leaders have been incompetent addressing the crime situation.
Are the police salaries paid by the city not competitive with nearby municipalities? Given the crime in the city, I can see an argument for paying the officers more, but one could easily interpret the comment that paying officers more will address the crime problem as implying that the current officers are intentionally not trying to address the crime because they aren't being paid enough. And that hasn't been my experience based on my interactions with police officers. Perhaps we have poor retention rates because of low salaries? Just trying to understand how increased salaries ties back to decreasing crime.
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The functions of government are not a business and shouldn't be treated as such.
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Downtown Hooter's homicide last night.... and deadly shooting at the S. Jefferson I-44 exit.
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The pay for police officers is not meaningfully different between St. Louis City and St. Louis County. It's higher in both than most of the municipalities in the County or any of the departments or sheriff's departments in the state. As far as I know there isn't a lack of qualified officers or applicants.MarkHaversham wrote: ↑Jan 28, 2017That's true, but you still attract better talent with higher pay, even in government.
Surveillance cameras can and will be hacked:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pu ... story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pu ... story.html
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You sure about that? Quote from an article at STLToday just posted this morning:
As it stands, the police department is 95 officers short of the 1,300 it is authorized to employ. Money that could go to hiring more cops is currently being used to pay overtime costs for existing officers.
Police Chief Sam Dotson, who withdrew from the mayor’s race in November, said he would like to get his department to full strength, but he can’t hire officers fast enough. While it takes six months for job candidates to graduate from the police academy, he said, the department “loses two to three officers per pay period.”
Recruiting is made even tougher, Dotson said, by a wage disparity: The starting salary for an officer in the city is $42,000 a year, compared with $49,000 a year in St. Louis County.
“It’s a simple math problem,” he said.
I was looking at median salaries, so I will concede that starting pay might be lower in the City.
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Given that the city is generally considered a much harder beat than the county, the salaries should be higher to attract the same level of talent.
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I agree. I would think like any other industry, the highest qualified applicants generally get their pick of the best compensation and work environment. When you're making $42K/year, seven grand is A LOT of money and incentive. Also, I could be wrong, but I would guess that, on the average, the chance of being involved in a violent altercation is higher being a city officer than many of the other regional municipalities. I don't know any police officers personally, but I wouldn't be surprised if that stress weighs heavier on them and their families than the pay deficit.MarkHaversham wrote: ↑Jan 29, 2017Given that the city is generally considered a much harder beat than the county, the salaries should be higher to attract the same level of talent.
Let's night there was a hell storm on Tower Grove South FaceBook Page. Terrence Twain got angry and voiced his opinion on Broken Glass noises.
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So basically even from last year (15). It's amazing how the city doesn't seem to be doing anything to address it
An inmate at the St. Louis Justice Center died and it is being investigated as a homicide, so that is at least 15.
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I think we have to force the city to do something about it.joelo wrote:So basically even from last year (15). It's amazing how the city doesn't seem to be doing anything to address it
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Hopefully a new Mayor will help create some change with the current strategies in place. Slay & Dotson have done squat to fix things.
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^ I would think that one tweet from Trump referring to Chicago would get local officials to act. Since I would think the threat of federal intervention by Trump would light fire under people, not to mention the State may do the same. What sort of actions those could be who knows at this point.
Law firm considering moving from downtown, solely because of crime:
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2017/01/31/ ... -law-firm/
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2017/01/31/ ... -law-firm/
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Will probably fall on deaf ears. The city of St Louis doesn't care about the public safety of their highest revenue generating neighborhood.MRNHS wrote:Law firm considering moving from downtown, solely because of crime:
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2017/01/31/ ... -law-firm/
We are too busy scrutinizing cops instead of going after criminals. All while the county floats a tax increase to hire more cops and pay them better.
I expect the situation to get worse.
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