By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The St. Louis Police Department is pulling together several federal agencies to help crack down on the city's most violent criminals.
Police Chief Dan Isom announced the formation of the Violent Offenders Unit today. He says agents from the DEA, the ATF and the FBI will collaborate with city officers to try and reduce the homicide rate - which was up 21 percent last year.
"Each agency has intelligence and information and resources to bring forward and we will collaborate on what's the best strategy moving forward to remove the most violent offenders off the street. So, it will certainly be a team, a collaborative approach to addressing these problems in our community," Isom said.
U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway says she will designate several prosecutors from her office to deal with these cases.
"Let's all focus on the worst offenders, those who are most likely to be violent, those who are most likely to commit murders and make sure that they are arrested and prosecuted."
Isom says no new additional officers will be hired for this effort. It will begin after police commissioners sign off on the unit later this month.