By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – St. Louis police say they dealt with more crime in downtown St. Louis last year than they did in 2004.
Total crime rose 15 percent downtown in 2005. Figures were up in nearly all categories, except arson and vehicle theft.
Chief Joe Mokwa says part of the reason for the up-tick is new police procedures for keeping track of offenses.
"We added some crimes from previous years because of our change in process, and we did have a lot of people on the street, meaning homeless and vulnerable people who seemed to victimize one another during the past year," Mokwa said.
The number of rapes reported downtown jumped from zero to ten. But that was after police changed the way they report that particular crime.
Last year it came to light that some officers were using informal memos rather than official police reports to keep track of rape complaints.