Leave it to St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson to issue a comment focused more on public relations than mayhem after a violent weekend.
“Over the last 24 hours and over the weekend, we did see a spike in crime. And I don't want to minimize these incidents, but crime is down 12 percent this year, 50 percent since 2006,” Dotson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Really, chief?
Tell that to Anthony Temple, a 25-year-old man who was killed Sunday night in a backyard in the 3900 block of Oregon Avenue.
Tell that to the 22-year-old man wounded at the Broadway Oyster Bar by a stray bullet reportedly fired in a rolling gun battle early Friday.
Tell that to the five men who were robbed while walking from Ballpark Village at 12:30 a.m. early Monday. (The assailants in that robbery are reportedly suspected of committing two other armed robberies within 15 minutes on city streets. Police suspect the same men could have committed similar robberies in Illinois recently.)
It was a bad weekend for the city’s image. Yet Dotson tried to smooth it over with meaningless statistics. Everybody relax. Crime is down. Things aren’t nearly as bad as they were eight years ago.
Dotson did say that police will take action. Officers wearing both uniforms and plain clothes will be added to hotspot areas that need coverage during peak crime times. (I’m not sure what that means, but I'm guessing the Cardinals' owners have made it clear they will not tolerate Ballpark Village patrons being robbed near the stadium.) The frightening thing is that these robberies could spark more police activity than a handful of shootings on the city’s north side.
If there's a silver lining to be found in the city’s violent weekend it's that it reminds the region that more police are needed on city streets—all of its streets, all of the time.
In the meantime, as violent criminals continue to terrorize city neighborhoods, residents can comfort themselves with the thought that crime is down 12 percent in St. Louis.
Thanks, chief.
