St. Louis County prosecutor questions crime stat plan

CLAYTON, Mo. -- St. Louis County's prosecuting attorney is criticizing a plan that would combine St. Louis city and county crime statistics, calling the idea "deceptive."

The police chiefs of the city and county have lobbied the Missouri State Highway Patrol and business leaders to support combining the region's crime statistics. The patrol compiles the state's crime statistics for the FBI.

St. Louis often ranks high in crime ratings, and some officials in the region believe it's unfair because city and county crime stats are separate, unlike some other large cities. The county has a relatively low crime rate.

The official proposal to merge the statistics was sent to the FBI on Monday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

"It's deceptive, and it's a misrepresentation of the community," county prosecutor Bob McCulloch said. "There is no basis in reality to what they are all saying."

St. Louis County police patrols only unincorporated areas of the county and municipalities that contract with it. Many towns within the county have their own police departments, so their crime statistics are separate. McCulloch said four June murders don't appear in the county police statistics because they occurred in municipalities with their own departments.

St. Louis County police chief Tim Fitch said the proposal is in its "information gathering" phase. The FBI might require the county to count the municipalities in its numbers before signing off on the idea, he said. Both chiefs also say they would keep separate crime statistics available to the public.

St. Louis ranked second in violent crimes among cities in its population category in 2010; the proposed change would drop St. Louis to eighth.

Fitch said St. Louis city, which is all urban, is now compared to cities that typically contain suburban or even rural areas with less crime.

St. Louis chief Sam Dotson said, "It's not a manipulation of the numbers. They don't lie and they don't change, but what it does do is paint an accurate picture of the region for those who want to know what's going on in the region, and not just its urban core."

------

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com