By Adan Allington, St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis, MO – The Partnership for Downtown St. Louis released a report on Wednesday that says crime in the downtown area is decreasing.
The report says total crime in the Downtown Neighborhood dropped by 14 percent and the Downtown West area by 3 percent.
Captain Gwen Spicer is the commander of the Fourth District which oversees downtown. She says the biggest improvement came in the area of car thefts.
"Right now we're experiencing about a 40-percent decrease in our thefts from vehicles," said Spicer, "...because in the past they always targeted out-of-town plates or cars where they knew the people probably wouldn't come back and prosecute. It left a bad impression about the city."
Spicer cited the influence of a Community Improvement District (CID) that pays for police overtime for special events, additional security, as well as 16 full-time downtown guides.