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by TrafficDiva from St. Louis

Last Post 15 days, 17 hours Ago


Thought Provoking commentary on St Louis Crime
Nov 16, 2008 | 9:46 PM
Category: News
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This is a commentary from a friend of mine who will really make you think...pretty powerful blog!  This was written after this past weekend's robbery at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.

As you know, St. Louis regularly tops the "most dangerous city" rankings, and year-in, and year-out suffers from increasingly more violent crimes as national statistics show. 

Sure, there are those that counter with how the studies only look within the St. Louis "city" limits, with a population of about 300,000, and don't take into account the suburbs in St. Louis County or the rest of the metropolitan area (~2.8 million people). This may be true, but it is a technicality that too many St. Louisans rely on, while they revert back to their "Pleasantville" lives of denial as jobs, businesses, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, artists, and youth steadily depart the community for brighter futures elsewhere.    

Now, what does all this have t o do the armed robbery at the Waldorf-Astoria?

This stuff can happen anywhere anytime.... but I can't imagine any hotel staff in St. Louis tackling and wrestling a gun away from, and subduing an armed robber! (read news account or via NY Times web link below)

This episode, as reported in the NY Times, is a depiction of what is meant when it is written that the citizens of New York City decided to take back the streets from the thugs and criminals. Maybe these were plain clothed security guys... but someone decided it was worth the price to hire them.

This kind of brazen crime is unacceptable in New York City (~8.5 million people), and it wasn't until the New Yorkers experienced out of control violent and threatening street crime in the 70's and 80's that they collectively banded together to take their city back. In the early 90's there was a "tipping point" toward law and order, which provided an environment that allowed for the New York renaissance and revitalization that took place during the Giuliani and Bloomberg years.

Yet in 2008, the citizens of St. Louis are apathetic, indifferent, and in denial like the New Yorkers of the 70's and 80's. All one hears from St. Louisans is... Oh, "That's the city."  Or, "That only happens in the city." And, "We don't have much crime out here in the county. It's safe out here... We don't even lock our doors."

I ask you, have you shopped at the Gall eria, Wholefoods (Brentwood), Plaza Frontenac, walked the Delmar Loop, walked to your car at the Barnes Hospital complex, or taken the Metro Rail lately? It's not safe.  And no one wants to publicly acknowledge it ("it's not polite"), or take the initiative to access the hundreds of thousands of federal Homeland Security dollars available to upgrade public area security in St. Louis ("we don't need it").

That's not to mention the Fox Theater, Powell Symphony Hall, St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum, Maryland Plaza, or any of the other St. Louis City parks and treasurers situated in the heart of the "city's" war zone.

What's going to cause St. Louis to have a tipping point in the right direction? It took Bernard Getz being mugged on a NYC subway... and a mob boss being gunned down in front of Spark's steakhouse for New Yorker's to fully engage and say enough is enough.

What about the University City career police officer who was shot while sitting in his squad car two weeks ago right off the main drag in the Delmar Loop - blocks away from U-City Hall?! Are we hearing the same old, "it didn't happen to me or anyone I know," response from St. Louisans? Who say things like... "Oh, it hasn't really ever been safe there for years." Or, "That's right near the city line." Or, "You know... that was drug related." 

As if to say, "That's their problem, and not mine?!"

I'm sorry to be so "impolite" and "negative," but i t's a problem that affects ALL of us!

When will St. Louisans have their awakening? Or will the "outlying" city, situated on the riverbanks' edge of its "red" (no longer bellwether) state, slowly fade away into some blighted irrelevant relic of the past?

The first step, is for citizens to speak out and start the inquiry with our private and public institutions that manage our open facilities, infrastructure, and law enforcement departments about taking the initiative to secure the federal Homeland Security dollars available to make our city/metropolitan area safer and ready for growth and commerce. 
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Member Comments Total Comments: 11
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mr_wildflower read my blog view my photos
Nov 17, 2008 | 8:10 AM

It is safer in the County but I agree you are not safe anywhere....... I just get tired of hearing the city officials telling us how safe it is in the city........ It seems that everyday when I watch the news that there is somebody murdered the night before........
AMOM read my blog
Nov 17, 2008 | 9:59 AM

Double the policemen on the street. Put them back to walking the beat.

When a person is arrested, make it so bad that they will not want to do that again.

That's what Switzerland does!!!!

Police are doing their jobs, but the courts are not.

Many times a judge will just turn someone loose. Look a Cooey that killed the little girl in Florida.

The judge that turned him loose should be doing time.
ozarkrazorback read my blog
Nov 17, 2008 | 4:17 PM

You forgot to mention that Giuliani and Bloomberg are Republicans. After many years of Democrats, New Yorkers finally realized that maybe there should be a change in leadership. Same situation here. 50+ years of Democrats in charge of St. louis and crime is out of control, the school district continues to fail, businesses move out and no one seems to be able to figure out what to do. Well, getting rid of the Democrats in this city would be a good start. Problems cannot be fixed by the one's that created them.
AnswerMan read my blog
Nov 17, 2008 | 9:35 PM

The first step to safety is to stay home. Yeah, it's odd but it's safe.

It doesn't matter what area you visit - crime is always around you.

Lots of grant money for law enforcement was stripped sometime in the past ten years.

Too light of sentences and not enough storage for the scum once busted.
Chickenkiller read my blog
Nov 20, 2008 | 1:29 AM

AMOM - You've got to be kidding! There is no money to double the number of police on the street. But here's a couple of ideas that would get some additional utilization of what they have.
1) Quit taking officers out of service for training. Sounds harsh, right? Well, according to a friend down there, the only training they've had in the last 5 years has been on EEOC and Sexual Harassment which doesn't do a lot when you have the Crips and Bloods running the street.
2) Flatten out the spans of control. There are too many sergeants and above. You have sergeants that sit at desks all day, do little. It's so blatant you have a sergeant for every 2 patrolmen. Turn the poor performers back into patrolmen and put them back on the street.
3) Vote in a new Prosecutor - the current regime is too interested in plea bargaining and making deals with the thugs rather than doing her job.
Speedy62269 read my blog
Nov 20, 2008 | 9:20 AM

Uh oh Chicken...you know who took a lot of our potential cops from the streets...yep Dubya. We are now short 3 cops in my small city which has a population that should really have 6 additional.

I agree with the "training" and "continuing education" these law enforcement personnel get and how they are trained. But, it's necessary to keep up with the fickle laws and keeping one "sharp" at his/her job.

I also agree with your sergeants - there are too many CHIEFS and not enough INDIANS. I'd like to see some type of a ratio that way more physically capable stripes can be patrolling the streets instead of tilting their chairs.

We all need to push our politicians letting them know that we will not tolerate those line item cuts. We need that COPS program back and hopefully Obama will do so.

Darn it's cold out! LOL
Chickenkiller read my blog
Nov 21, 2008 | 12:07 AM

Speedy - I know that the Clinton 100,000 new cops on the street is a source of disagreement between you and I. Once again, I will point out the fact that the Federal funding for this was only to pay the salaries of those additional officers for a period of 3 years after which time, the counties and municipalities were to pick up the costs (salaries) associated with this program on their own.

Some governments had the foresight to see that the money would go away, and could not afford to keep the program going and as such didn't add to the force. Others added and used the new officers for 'revenue enhancement' rather than addressing real crime. In the end, the program resulted in approximately 10,000 new police (10% of the goal) of which many have since gone away.

The cutbacks in government services will not result in non-vital services being cut. Instead we will see a curtailment of vital services as the perks and 'feel good' activities continue. For example, the highway departments will not cut staff, but they will reduce grass cutting, bridge repairs and pothole fixing claiming they don't have the money.
Speedy62269 read my blog
Nov 21, 2008 | 8:47 AM

Yes, the COPS Fast program was a FREE ride for any city that was approved such grant. The cities then had to keep these officers on the force.

What we our city did was allocate the officer within that 3 year period to a position that we would have filled if the grant wasn't accepted. So in reality, you have an extra cop on the street (not desk) for 3 years at no additional expense for salary line item.

Other cities did things differently and you are correct, they wasted the true potential of this grant. This is why I was quite successful for 12 years doing things the proper way.

We witnessed the lack of median grass cutting this year in Illinois. Driving I-64 everyday proved that our State didn't want to make the roadways appeal to passersby. I do think attrition would help along with cutting where they hold the shovels. I laugh in a construction zone in Illinois because 5 out of 6 employees are holding shovels and chatting.
dogtownguy read my blog
Dec 13, 2008 | 11:40 AM

ST.LOUIS CITY COPS ARE CORRUPTS, THIEVES, LAZY AND THINK THEY SIT ON THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER.
dogtownguy read my blog
Dec 13, 2008 | 11:40 AM

ST.LOUIS CITY COPS ARE CORRUPTS, THIEVES, LAZY AND THINK THEY SIT ON THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER.
Speedy62269 read my blog
Dec 13, 2008 | 11:55 AM

Wow dogtownguy you must have just gotten a citation from them or something. This blog and comments have been about 3 weeks old.

What happened to you to be so critical? I would say in every department there is corruption but I believe the SLPD is less corrupt at lower levels than you think.
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TrafficDiva

Aside from my work at Fox 2, I am also the host of The Health & Fitness show on KMOX Sundays from 1-3pm. I have been the Head Fitness Trainer at Riverchase of Fenton for almost 9 years. I also write a health article for Streetscape Magazine in St. Charles. As for my personal hobbies, some of my greatest passions in life all relate to music. I have been singing and dancing since I was 3. I have also been an athlete since I was a kid, excelling in the sports of soccer, softball and basketball. I am extremely close to my family and miss my father daily. We lost him September 12th 1995. He and my mom would dance and you would think it was poetry in motion. My mother is one of my dearest friends, I have two brothers and a sister, all of whom are older. I am blessed to have many friends and acquaintances. I also love animals and have a beautiful dog named Kyra, who just turned 8 in September. I also adopted Kailei from the Humane Society of Monroe County in May of 2007, she is an amazing puppy. She is being trained by Casey and Shelly Ray with Team Dog St. Louis. I swear they are just like Cesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer. They even have their own little pack :-). Give me my family, friends, a great man that I fall in love with, pets, music, sports, a nice restaurant, a good martini and a sharp sports car and I could live forever! :-) LOL. Thanks for reading.

Member Since: 9/13/2006


 

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