The St. Louis Police Department is using a new strategy to curb crime.
Aggravated assaults with firearms are up about 20 percent so far this year over last year.
The police department recently began working with University of Missouri-St. Louis criminology professor Rick Rosenfeld to reduce violent crime.
St. Louis Police Chief Dan Isom says the new strategy is to flood high-crime areas with officers during evening hours.
"Generally what we do is we go into these areas and there is a lot of activity," Isom said. "There could be car stops, pedestrian stops, arrests. And when you think about that type of activity from a lot of different officers, it's safe to say that crime is going to go down."
Professor Rosenfeld says increasing the visibility of police could help prevent crimes before they occur.
Both were on St. Louis On the Air this morning, and you can hear more of the conversationhere.
Follow St. Louis Public Radio on Twitter: @stlpublicradio
