Overall crime in St. Louis decreased by 16% last year, according to data shared by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
Police officials said at a press conference on Tuesday that there were 141 homicides last year, including a killing on New Year’s Eve.
The numbers reflect a 12 year low and a 7% drop from 2024.
Sexual assaults dropped 41%. Robberies, burglaries and aggravated assaults also decreased by 15%,16% and 10%, respectively.
“One of the main reasons that we're seeing a continued decline is that our police officers are performing well above national averages in actually solving homicides,” St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said at the briefing.
St. Louis police said the city’s homicide clearance rate stands at 84% compared to the national average from a few years ago of 50%. Murders have dropped over the past several years in St. Louis since reaching one of its highest points in 2020.
St. Louis’ numbers follow national trends: Crime has dropped across the U.S, including murders, which saw a 20% drop over 2024.
Shooting incidents and juvenile shooting incidents in the city also dropped 28% and 17% respectively.
St. Louis police relied on police data tool Compstat to track trends. Spencer credited a number of factors in decreasing crime, including officers, detectives and investigators, SLMPD Chief Robert Tracy, collaboration with Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore and the Office of Violence Prevention founded under former Mayor Tishaura Jones.
“Given this unusual year and the trauma that our community has experienced, [we might] expect to see an increase in criminal activity, and we saw the opposite,” Spencer said.
The St. Louis Police Academy graduated 38 recruits last year, an increase from 32 in 2024. Tracy said the department is working to recruit more officers. He said low staffing is an issue police departments across the country are facing.
“I go away to national conferences with other chiefs, major city chiefs, it is the number one issue across the United States, how do we bring more officers into this profession,” Tracy said. “There's hiring bonuses in some jurisdictions of $50,000, and they still can't get up the budgeted strength. So I think this is going to take time.”
Police said the number of firearms it has seized has increased, including ghost guns, which are homemade weapons. Tracy said he was surprised to see a growing number in St. Louis since those weapons are usually found in regions where it’s harder to obtain a gun.
“When we collect ballistic evidence, it still leaves a fingerprint,” Tracy said. “It's getting easier and easier for people to have home kits to be able to do this.”
The crime data comes more than half a year since the state once again took control of the city police. A six-person board includes the mayor and five others appointed by Gov. Mike Kehoe.
St. Louis Police Board of Police Commissioners President Chris Saracino said the board’s goal is to operate an efficient department.
“This in turn will help [us] even achieve greater results than the chief has been doing, and providing a safer, healthier city for all neighborhoods,” Saracino said.
The St. Louis County Police Department also shared its crime data Tuesday and said major offenses dropped 8.5%. Homicides for the county are down 9.6% while aggravated assaults saw a drop of 10.5% from 2024.
Tracy said collaborating with the county and sharing data has been beneficial since offenders cross the city and county line.
“[Crime is] a regional issue,” Tracy said. “That's why some of the stuff that we're doing is having that success, that communication.”
Spencer said even though crime continues to trend downward, there’s still work to ensure St. Louisans feel safe.
Spencer said that takes continued collaboration with police, the circuit attorney, violence prevention offices and the community.
“I think those are clearly relationships that are building,” Spencer said. “They're improving, and they're effectively driving the crime rates into the place where we need them to be for everyone to feel safer.”
