St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay seeks to expedite addition of 80 new police officers

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis' mayor says he's looking to add 80 new police officers in the city as soon as possible to address concerns about St. Louis' rising number of homicides.

Francis Slay said adding the additional officers would bring the police force back to full strength of roughly 1,300 in the city where 154 killings have taken place this year.

The mayor, police chief Sam Dotson and St. Louis criminologist Rick Rosenfeld all say a surge of heroin abuse and warring suppliers could help explain the spike in violence.

Dotson and Slay are attending a multicity, Washington, D.C., crime summit that's led by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

The city spent roughly $10.6 million in overtime costs for police officers during the 2015 fiscal year that ended in July.