Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, Commissioner Robert J. Tracy Share Highlights of 2023 Year-End Crime Data, Revealing Significant Improvements to Public Safety

Today, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and Commissioner Robert J. Tracy releases highlights of 2023 year-end crime data, which reveal significant improvements to public safety in St. Louis.

Crime data reveal a 21% reduction in murders (158 in 2023 compared to 200 in 2022); a 24% reduction in shooting incidents (550 in 2023 compared to 722 in 2022); and a 23% reduction in shooting victims (631 in 2023 compared to 821 in 2022). The department also reported sharp reductions in juvenile shooting incidents (47% decrease) and victims (50% decrease) compared with the prior year.

“In just one year, Chief Tracy has delivered effective crime reduction strategies that keep our communities safer,” said Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. “By addressing violent crime head on and partnering with community organizations to provide additional services, we are putting St. Louis on the right track. These numbers reflect what we can do when we combine the tireless work of our officers and of our newly established Office of Violence Prevention.”

 “We are proud to release crime data for 2023, which underscores the progress we have made in making St. Louis a safer community,” said Commissioner Tracy. “Over the course of the past year, I have been proud to work alongside some of the most dedicated and passionate law enforcement professionals around, and the sharp reductions in serious crime categories are a reflection of their relentless efforts to make our city safer.”

Additionally, 2023 saw a 22% reduction in overall Part 1 crimes (murder, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, felony theft and auto theft) compared with 2022 – including individual reductions in the majority of those crime categories. Year-end data compiled through the department’s CompStat process reflect a 39% reduction in felony theft; an 19% decrease in auto theft; a 12% decrease in burglaries; a 11% reduction in robbery incidents; and a 6% reduction in aggravated assaults.

This work builds off a 25% reduction in homicides from 2020-2021 and shows the impact of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s evidence-based crime prevention strategies. These strategies include a focus on the community – with the traditional tenets of community policing as well as district integrity, which involves assigning the same officers to the same areas each time they report for duty. They also include intelligence-led policing, as well as a focus on crime gun intelligence and partnerships with community organizations, partner law enforcement agencies and prosecutors. The SLMPD team uses the CompStat methodology to ensure greater accountability among supervisors and assists with focusing deployment and resources on addressing emerging crime trends and patterns. Finally, these strategies include a focus on recruitment, retention and training, with an eye towards keeping the agency staffed with well-trained police officers who are ready to protect and serve our neighborhoods. In 2023, the department received historic raises and welcomed four new academy classes. 14 additional officers also returned to the department from other jurisdictions.

“Each of these strategies has been proven effective in communities large and small across the country, and we are seeing the impact of this layered approach in St. Louis as well,” said Commissioner Tracy. “While these numbers provide us an opportunity to celebrate some progress, there remains much work to be done – and a great deal of progress to make as we enter another year.”