Crime was down in the city of St. Louis in 2007 — violent crime falling 11 percent and property crimes down 17 percent in 2007. No small accomplishment, even if violent crime now appears to be on the rise.
But these trends — good and bad — aren’t keeping city neighborhoods from taking crime-fighting into their own hands. Property owners are digging into their pockets and pooling their cash to pay for part-time patrols that supplement everyday police protection.
The city now has 60 special-taxing districts with revenue available for community improvements, including private police patrols. In short, city neighborhoods are doing what some affluent suburban communities do: hiring their own extra security guards, except in the city, they’re trained city cops.
The practice has risks. But if well managed, it has even more possibilities. Coordination and accountability are the keys to ensuring that these public safety initiatives make good use of the tax money they spend. An experiment in two neighborhoods on St. Louis’ near South Side could provide an excellent laboratory.
In 2002, the Southwest Garden Neighborhood, west of the Missouri Botanical Garden, established a “special business district” for a part of the neighborhood. Voters agreed to a special property tax; the owner of a house with a market value of $100,000 pays $161.50 to the special tax district.
The proceeds have been used for special police patrols that focus on specific problems cropping up in the neighborhood: a rash of car thefts, vandalism, daytime burglaries and the like. How well have things worked? Here’s one measure:
The original ballot initiative barely passed in 2002. When the assessment came up for renewal in 2006, it passed with 75 percent of the vote.
Flora Place — the graceful street with stately homes that runs east from the garden to Grand Boulevard — formed its own community improvement district last year, also focused on public safety. It assesses a flat $500 per property for this purpose and expects to raise more than $75,000 per year.
Now a group of residents in the Shaw Neighborhood want to build on neighboring Southwest Garden’s success. It hopes to get a special assessment on the ballot to raise about $225,000 a year to pay for extra police patrols — mainly by hiring city cops seeking overtime, or “secondary employment” in police jargon.
The idea appears to have considerable support. But not everyone in Shaw is keen on these police patrols.
Some residents worry that special policing could undermine support for a strong, unified citywide police department. Others wonder whether communities that pony up for the extra patrols will receive less attention from regular police patrols. Finally, others feel they just can’t afford the extra expense.
Private patrols aren’t frequent enough or wide enough to replace general police protection, nor should they. The city must ensure that it doesn’t create a two-tiered level of policing: one for affluent neighborhoods, another for the less-affluent. But special patrols can focus on specific neighborhood problems, perhaps making everyday police patrols much more effective. Is it worth an extra $10 to $15 more a month in taxes?
Voters can change their minds if they don’t feel they’re getting their money’s worth. Ordinances used to create the districts have sunset provisions — meaning the districts and assessments automatically end unless reauthorized by voters.
Neighborhood tax district dollars are overseen by commissions whose members are appointed either by the property owners or by the mayor. The budgets are public, and each district must submit an annual report itemizing collections and expenditures.
Accountability shouldn’t end there. The volunteer boards leading these districts should have access to city police commanders who can evaluate their plans and suggest ways to improve coordination between districts. If that happens, the Shaw-Flora Place-Southwest Garden troika could become a model system.
The majority of the residents of the city of St. Louis have decided the level of police and schools that they want.
Some residents and neighborhoods disagree, so they establish special tax districts to get the services that they want to pay for.
Now if the residents of a community will, in addition to increased police patrols decide they want to pay for decent schools. To quote the Bard, “‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.”
Seems pretty reasonable to me.
And I can say, at least on Flora it’s working.
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GTB, it’s more like concerned citizens taking action by making direct and good use of government.
Putting the taxing district concept to a vote requires action from the Board of Aldermen. The elections board, of course, administers the vote. If approved by a majority of voters, the law requires everybody to pay (it’s not a voluntary system). In the case of a property assessment, the office of the city assessor does the collecting. And the law requires annual budgets and reports.
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There are people in Shaw who cannot afford to keep their homes now, I see this in my business every day. Another 10 to 15 bucks a month is STILL another 10 to 15 bucks they don’t have! I understand that the affluent people in this neighborhood want to form a gated community, but if city residents wanted that, why not live in the county? The idea of special patrols geared toward certain areas is not the answer. How will people on Flad feel if the patrols are constantly addressing crime on Detonty? Will they expect a discount? Should the people in the rougher and more slumlord-impacted areas pay more? I only say this because I see this as an issue that will develop in the future. What would $225000 add to the SLPD? 2 officers? 4 Officers? Can we get them specifically added to the 3rd district? And lastly, why would a for-profit company like Hi-Tech have any interest in stamping out crime as they would essentially be stamping out their future business? I feel it is more likely that they would do enough not to get fired which is not enough for my money and seemingly has become the norm in the modern business-place. I understand that we can vote it out later, but do I get a credit if my car is broken into or my home is not as well protected as others? I need to hear more on this from the SLPD and less from those NOT on the SLPD. I don’t care about general statistics as the sole reason for this initiative. As we all know, there are lies, $%&@ lies, and statistics (thank you Mark Twain). I think the police are doing a fantastic job as I see constant improvement on my street. We should subsidize and reward their work directly rather than hiring overworked and underfunded officers and asking them to stretch their work hours longer than they already are. It is a quality of life issue. Would you like to take a second job doing the job you already do? What’s another 5 hours a day or 20 hours a week doing what you already do? I don’t consider everyone in Shaw to be affluent and therefore I don’t comprehend how those that are expect those that are not to pay for this.
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Take notice PD Editorial board — this works because it IS NOT a big government program. Just concerned residents taking action into their own hands. What a great thing it is.
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