Community Corner
New Collaborative Effort Meant To Fight Crime In East St. Louis
A new collaborative effort is underway in the Metro East and it has a renewed focus on ridding East St. Louis of violating criminals.
December 24,2020
A new collaborative effort is underway in the Metro East and it's putting renewed focus on ridding East St. Louis of violating criminals. East St. Louis Police Chief Kendall Perry says he welcomes help with crime, which means safer streets for the Metro East.
"This agreement is an extremely large amount of help that we've needed for a long time," Perry said. “Even with the small amount of time that they’ve been here, we’ve noticed good progress."
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That help comes from the State of Illinois in a joint venture called the Public Safety Enforcement Group. It’s a collaborative of both local, state and federal officers. PSEG consists of 16 assigned officers who investigate non-fatal violent crimes.
“Per capita, the homicide rate still remains disproportionally high and far too many of those homicide investigations remain open,” said Brendan Kelly, director of the Illinois State Police.
Only eight of the 36 cases for 2020 have been solved in East St. Louis. Investigators say they’re hopeful PSEG will lead to more arrests. The group has produced federal charges in the case of Kein Eastman. He was kidnapped after two brothers, Kendrick and Kenwyn Frazier accused him of stealing a mouth grill from them. Both men were charged with kidnapping and shooting Eastman.
“He has not been seen or heard from since that day,” said U.S. Attorney Steven Weinhoeft.
Officials asked anyone who knows the whereabouts of the Fraziers to contact U.S. marshals at 800-336-0102.
