The homicide unit of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is getting a little bigger.
The Board of Police Commissioners at its meeting today approved adding 10 detectives to the unit. Four of them have been serving with the division on a temporary basis, and the six others will be selected from among the city's 900 patrol officers.
That will bring the total number of homicide detectives to 24, which chief Dan Isom says will help bring the department closer to meeting national standards for caseloads.
"Any time that you can have a group of detectives focus on a smaller number of cases, the idea is that your outcomes are going to be better," Isom said.
The city of St. Louis has seen 75 homicides this year. Detectives have solved 26 murders in 2011, though not all of those occurred this year.
