ST. LOUIS — Amid concern about violent crime in the city, Mayor Lyda Krewson on Monday briefed ºüÀêÊÓƵ aldermen in her City Hall office on what her administration is doing to address the problem.
Gun violence has claimed the lives of at least 13 children in the city of ºüÀêÊÓƵ this year, including a 15-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl who were added to the toll this weekend in separate incidents. No one has been charged in any of the deaths.
Police Chief John Hayden and Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards also were on hand for the session, which the mayor said lasted about 90 minutes.
“We wanted to make sure everybody had the same knowledge base,†Krewson said after the meeting, which was not made public in advance.Â
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Among other things, the mayor said, Hayden said he had deployed additional officers to investigate homicides and had “ramped up†the police department’s use of overtime.Â
Krewson said she reiterated Saturday’s announcement of the $25,000 rewards offered for information related to recent child deaths and her request that the Cure Violence initiative be launched quickly.
She also said she would try to find funding “to quickly add†more security cameras and license plate readers around the city.
And she said she had sought state assistance in a call Monday to Gov. Mike Parson, such as deploying the Missouri Highway Patrol in the city. She said her push to repeal the city residency rule, in part to make it easier to fill police vacancies, also was mentioned.
One of the alderman attending, Jeffrey Boyd, D-22nd Ward, said aldermen also asked questions of the mayor and the others.
Boyd said another point made was that police have been focusing more on drug activity.
“Last week was a bad week,†Boyd said in an interview. “Our constituents are concerned, they’re afraid. They deserve some kind of answer.â€
Boyd and Alderman Brandon Bosley, D-3rd Ward, both commended the mayor for holding the session.
“I think it was the first of many productive meetings that need to be had,†said Bosley, who earlier this year had sharply criticized the mayor for supporting the now-suspended Better Together campaign. “It's a really good start. To see everybody come and really be concerned, to move forward, it was inspiring.â€
Another attendee, Joe Vaccaro, D-23rd Ward, alleged that the meeting — which the mayor said was attended by at least a majority of the 29 board members — violated the state Sunshine Law because it was not announced in advance to the public. Vaccaro and Bosley both said about 20 aldermen were present while another member, Jack Coatar, D-7th Ward, said it was 10 to 12. Another alderman present said the number varied, as aldermen entered and left at different times.
Krewson said she believed that holding the private session was allowed under the Sunshine Law because it was a briefing and not a formal Board of Aldermen meeting. She said there were no detailed discussions of legislation and “no decisions made.â€
The mayor also told aldermen that one of the weekend homicide victims was a woman who worked for city government.
Rick Frank, city personnel director, said that victim, Antoinette Banks, had been a secretary in the city neighborhood stabilization office. Banks' 10-year-old daughter, Nyla Banks, also was killed.
Police transfers criticized
In an internal memo sent Monday afternoon, Chief Hayden announced that six detectives and a sergeant were being transferred into the homicide unit effective immediately.
The need for more detectives in homicide was articulated in a series of tweets on Sunday by Heather Taylor, president of the Ethical Society of Police, whose membership consists primarily of black officers from ºüÀêÊÓƵ city and county police departments.
“We must staff homicide w/more manpower during the timeframes that data shows murders are occurring,†wrote Taylor, a police sergeant in the homicide division. “Like my shift, which leads the city, we already exceeded the recommended national average for scenes.â€
We must staff homicide w/more manpower during the timeframes that data shows murders are occurring. Like my shift, which leads the city, we already exceeded the recommended national average for scenes.
— Heather Taylor - President of the E.S.O.P. (@HthrTylr)
“Lower caseloads tended to have higher arrest ratesâ€
But the transfers announced Monday by Hayden were sharply criticized by Jeff Roorda, business manager for the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Police Association, the bargaining unit for officers.
Roorda said only two of the seven new additions to the homicide unit have experience as detectives, and the others are officers.
“We need more guys on the street,†Roorda said. “We’re 153 officers down, yet almost of the department’s specialized units and cush jobs are fully staffed.
“We’re suffering when it comes to our presence on the street and that’s why crime is out of control. Now, they’re taking more officers off the street when we’re already short-handed. It’s just going to make criminals more brazen.â€
Roorda also was critical of Krewson’s plan to “ramp up†overtime.
“Instead of ramping up OT, let's pay a competitive wage so we can fill the vacancies and do really something about the murders and violence once and for all,†he said.
Christine Byers of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Coverage of children who died in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area in 2019
These are the local incidents of homicide or neglect involving children, based on Post-Dispatch reporting. This list doesn't include children killed in car accidents (unless a criminal charge was filed) or incidents not being investigated by homicide detectives.
A body that was found over the weekend in the parking lot of an East ºüÀêÊÓƵ middle school was identified Monday as that of a 13-year-old boy.
Police in Ferguson found two teen boys, ages 15 and 16, who both had been shot, inside a vehicle about 12:45 p.m. The older teen was seriously…
Sylvester Knighten Jr., 31, and the boy’s mother Danesha Cannamore, 31, were both arrested when police responded Wednesday to a call for an un…
The father of a 2-year-old girl killed in an accidental shooting in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County this week is accused of leaving a loaded gun in a d…
Caleb Smith, was gunned down Wednesday in an alley in the 8300 block of Strathmore Place.
At 9:20 a.m., East St Louis police drove to the John de Shields Housing Complex, 1235 McCasland Avenue, after reports of a shooting.Â
Tavares Chisholm, 4, of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, was hit and killed by a car as his mother pushed him and a 2-year-old in a stroller. A 27-year-old was char…
A 15-year-old boy was gunned down before sunup when someone fired a flurry of shots into a home in the north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County area of Glasgow …
The shooting happened shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday near the 11100 block of Oak Parkway Lane, as the teen walked through an apartment complex …
A 3-year-old boy fatally shot himself after finding a gun in the Laurel Park apartments north of Jennings, police said.
He was found shot in the head just before 6 a.m. in the 7300 block of Vermont Avenue in the Carondelet neighborhood of south ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
Police confirmed that a 10-year-old girl was among three people killed on the 700 block of North 21st Street around 6:30 p.m. The other victim…
Mayor Lyda Krewson urged tipsters to call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-8477. The usual reward is up to $5,000 for helpful tips.
The shooting occurred about a block north of Soldan High School, where a football exhibition was held Friday night. Fights broke out at the ev…
The mayhem has left brass begging for leads, politicians promising change, and parents at wits’ end: frustrated by lackluster investigations, …
Officers found Jason Eberhart Jr. dead in a parking lot in the 1300 block of Hogan Street around 2 a.m. Police said he was shot several times.Â
Taylor Jordan Baumer, 20, of the 1000 block of Adworth Drive in Mehlville, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child in the fir…
The day before he was to start as a second grader at Clay Elementary, Xavier Usanga was fatally shot while standing near an 18-year-old who wa…
He was inside an apartment with a group of teenagers when he was shot. He was found dead soon after.
Eddie was shot about 8:30 p.m. at a home in the 4700 block of Page Boulevard near the intersection with Marcus Avenue, police said. He was sit…
Was found shot to death inside a vehicle at a gas station at 4355 South Broadway; a 16-year-old in the car was not injured.
Robert Michael “R.J.â€Â Dorsey, was shot about 9:15 p.m. in the 800 block of Vegas Drive, in south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County. He was shot in the torso an…
Two teens and one adult were shot about 7:30 p.m. in the 1500 block of Fourth Street in Madison. One of the teenagers died of his wounds.
Police found him lying in the street about 3 a.m. Tuesday with multiple gunshot wounds in the 44000 block of Cupples Place. He died the next day.
Michael Henderson Jr., 15, of Centreville was shot in the 800 block of East 15th Street. Police responded to the scene at 2:37 p.m.Â
Myiesha Cannon, 16, was shot in the head about 1:25 a.m. in the 4400 block of Lexington Avenue. Police have labeled the shooting as a "suspici…
Police are labeling the case a "suspicious death" and released no additional details. Her mother said she found a 9 mm pistol and accidentally…
Kennedi Powell and her neighborhood friends had just swarmed her father’s car for a piece of pizza Sunday evening when a white car drove past,…
Jashon Johnson, of the 2700 block of Allen Avenue, was shot several times near Red Bud and Margaretta, police said.
The parents of a baby girl who died last week after being left inside a hot car in Calverton Park were charged with manslaughter Monday.
Kristina Curry, 16, was found dead just before 5 a.m. Thursday on a rear parking lot at Roosevelt High School at 3230 Hartford Street, police said.Â
Jaylon McKenzie, 14, an eighth grader at Mason-Clark Middle School in East ºüÀêÊÓƵ who was featured in Sports Illustrated as one of six youn…
A St. John woman left three young children alone for several hours and came home to find her 4-month-old son dead, prosecutors say. She was ch…
Kayden Johnson, 2, and his mother Trina’ty Riley, 18, were found dead with gunshot wounds shortly before midnight in their home in the 5900 bl…
Curtis Marshall, 15, was the victim of a targeted shooting in the 1700 block of Cargill Drive, police said.Â
Police initially called the shooting a "suspicious death," but later said they had concluded Evione accidentally shot himself in the 1700 bloc…
Malik Moore, 17, was shot in the 100 block of Chambers Road about 2:50 p.m., authorities said. He lived on the same block, just west of Riverv…
Demarco Washington, 32, of the 10700 block of Spring Garden Drive in the Glasgow Village area, was charged with a felony count of child endang…
Elijah Roby, 2, died in a car accident. His mother, Ebony Roby, 25, was charged with first-degree child endangerment in connection with the case.