ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and St. Louis area leaders announced a plan Thursday to "get more boots on the ground" in the fight against violent crime in that metropolitan area.
The plan includes sending 25 state personnel — including state troopers, investigators and a cyber analyst — to St. Louis. Some of the state troopers will ramp up interstate patrols, while others will join task forces in the city.
"These are additional efforts, these are additional resources, additional personnel, additional funds, and it's a real commitment to everyone working together," St. Louis Mayor Lydia Krewson said at a press conference announcing the initiative.
Fours hours west on Interstate 70, Kansas City, Missouri, is in the midst of its own violent crime crisis with 110 homicides so far this year.
So, why isn't the governor in the KC area announcing a similar plan?
"We've got a very serious crime problem," Mayor Quinton Lucas said. "St. Louis has a slightly more serious one, particularly given its small population."
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department's crime statistics page shows 144 homicides in the city, which has a population of roughly 300,000, through Sept. 17.
Meanwhile, KCMO has a population of about 490,000.
Still, Lucas said he has engaged in ongoing conversations with Parson about ways to support investigations and prosecution as well as ensuring adequate funding for social workers and trauma treatment.
Lucas has not and does not have plans to ask the highway patrol to intervene in Kansas City.
"Frankly, I think having people from out of town who don't know neighborhoods isn't actually a helpful approach to addressing violent crime," Lucas said. "We have not made the same request that I believe our peers in St. Louis have."
Democratic House Minority Leader Crystal Quade criticized Parson's plan in a statement released Thursday:
In developing his proposal, the governor left many important voices out of the conversation. And while shifting more resources to St. Louis is appropriate, that does nothing for Kansas City or rural areas affected by increases in gun-related suicides and local violence.
A major factor in Missouri’s gun violence crisis is that too many guns are hands of too many people who shouldn’t have them. Since the governor’s proposal to address gun violence doesn’t include strengthening Missouri’s dangerously weak gun laws, I fear it will end up being little more than a public relations campaign that produces few, if any, tangible results.”
KCMO Councilman Brandon Ellington, who previously served in the state legislature, would like to see Parson focus his attention on statewide solutions.
Specifically, Ellington believes cities bearing the brunt of violence should have more legal flexibility to address problems locally.
"I would like to see the governor stay in his lane and work on legislation that would allow municipalities to control their own law," Ellington said.
Meanwhile, Lucas will meet Wednesday with the mayors of St. Louis, Columbia and Springfield to discuss solutions that are working in their cities.
"I want to see what good ideas exist out there," Lucas said. "Frankly, we want to share what's working and what's not in Kansas City as well."
