Attorney General Sessions Sends More Resources To Missouri

ST. LOUIS, MO — United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions has selected the Eastern District of Missouri to receive additional resources from the Department of Justice, including two additional Assistant U.S. Attorneys. Forty new federal prosecutors are being sent to 27 locations throughout the country to combat an uptick of violent crime across the country in an initiative called Project Safe Neighborhoods.

Data released last fall indicates that violent crime rose for the second consecutive year through 2016. There were more than 17,000 murders that year.

A teenager was found shot in a snowy Ferguson street shortly before 6 a.m. Christmas day brought the total number of murders in St. Louis in 2017 to 205, a 21-year record. A wave of shootings by police — which are not included in the official tally of homicides — have also inspired distrust in law enforcement, making good policing harder, critics say. St. Louis police shot two teenagers, aged 17 and 14, on Thanksgiving day, killing the 17-year-old, who police say was armed. The 14-year-old, who was unarmed, was injured but survived.

Democratic State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed introduced a bill in December to end discriminatory policing in the Missouri. It would enact a number of measures that supporters say would positively impact the state's economy and communities across the state, including requiring law enforcement to keep data on traffic stops and strengthening Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches. The bill has not yet seen a vote.

Last month, Mayor Lyda Krewson announced the appointment of 30-year SLMPD veteran John Hayden as St. Louis' new police commissioner, ending a five-month search. Hayden, who is black, has said he is committed to building better relationships with citizens through community policing tactics.

The attorney general said he believes giving law enforcement more resources is the best way to combat violent crime and has asked Congress for additional funding for Project Safe Neighborhoods next year.

"I believe nothing will be more effective at reducing violent crime,” Sessions said. "Under this program, I am asking a great deal of our United States Attorneys. I am both empowering them and holding them accountable for results. To put them in the best position to impact and reduce violent crime, it is my privilege to announce today that through a re-allocation of resources, we will be enlisting and deploying 40 additional violent crime prosecutors across the United States."

Jeff Jensen, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, said he welcomes the additional resources. "These new prosecutors will be hired and deployed promptly to fight violent crime in our District," he said.

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