The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department arrested 86 people — including 58 juveniles who were taken into custody — over the long holiday weekend as law enforcement cracked down on fireworks-related offenses.
Police also seized 60 firearms across the city over the same time period, which marks a 60% increase from last year and a 160% increase compared to a normal Thursday through Sunday timeframe, according to spokesman Mitch McCoy.
“This was a strategic plan that had effective results,” he said.
The majority of arrests came downtown on Friday night when SLMPD took a total of 62 people into custody. Of those, 45 were juveniles. Law enforcement also made eight firearm-related arrests.
On the holiday, police cited people for discharging and possessing fireworks, resisting arrest, assault on law enforcement, stealing, injurious behavior and trespassing, according to police.
Saturday saw 19 people taken into custody, including 11 juveniles. Law enforcement also made four firearm-related arrests that day.
The department promised a stricter response to this year’s fireworks-related offenses after gunfire downtown last year injured seven people.
McCoy said last week that parents of juveniles cited for fireworks-related offenses needed to pick up their children 45 minutes after being contacted by police or risk getting charged themselves.
Law enforcement cited parents for fireworks-related offenses, like contributing to the delinquency of a minor, when they picked up their child from custody. The police department is still tabulating how many parents were cited, McCoy said.
“At the end of the day, us holding parents accountable for their children's behavior has sparked a much larger conversation in this region as it relates to making sure juveniles are getting the support and help that they need,” McCoy said. “It is always our goal to prevent crime before it happens, but when it does happen, we address it.”
