Rainford talks crime on MSNBC
Mayor Slay's Chief of Staff, Jeff Rainford appeared as a guest on MSNBC's "The Most" today to talk about the city's increasingly widespread image as "the most dangerous city".
Referring, assumably, to Morgan Quitno, the Kansas publisher that hung the moniker around the citys neck, Rainford said the ratings were done by someone who, "doesn't know anthing about crime and doesn't know anything about statistics," but wants to push a product.
Morgan Quitno publishes statistical guides to city and state rankings.
Admitting there were five or six neighborhoods that drove the figures, Rainford said the city is working to reduce crime through improving the schools and attacking recidivism through job training.
The city is also employing an anti-crime "strike force" to focus on the main perpetrators.
These efforts have led to a decrease in crime in the last six months of the year, figures not included in recent evaluations, said Rainford.
A report in yesterday's Post-Dispatch examined FBI figures for the first half of the year which showed an increase in overall crime since 2005, but that the increase was in line with similar cities with populations of 250,000 to 499,999. The one outlier was the number of rapes, something St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa attributed to an improved, "impeccable", reporting system over previous years.
Rainford and Slay are making a political mistake by constantly fighting this "most dangerous" label. Is St. Louis the MOST dangerous place in America? Probably not. But for many of its residents and visitors, the fact is that the city is dangerous.
The more the mayor and the police chief try to fight that perception -- and now the FBI's statistics -- the more they sound like the ones that "doesn't know anthing about crime" in their own city.
Focus on fixing the problem, not denying that there is a problem.
I agree with Antonio.
Those of us who LIVE in the higher-crime parts of the city know the frustrations and just plain fear that comes with the territory.
Slay, Rainford and Mokwa can posture all they want, but are THEY gonna come down to Nebraska and Utah at 9 o'clock at night? I doubt it.
Posted by Joe Frank on Wed., Dec 20, 2006 at 1:51 PMJim Shrewsbury has done the city no favors by slashing the Circuit Attorney's budget. Without the necessary resources, the prosecutors are forced to return repeat rapists and murderers back onto our St. Louis streets. Shrewsbury must be held accountable!
Posted by I-Blame-Shrewsbury on Wed., Dec 20, 2006 at 3:07 PM"Jim Shrewsbury has done the city no favors by slashing the Circuit Attorney's budget. Without the necessary resources, the prosecutors are forced to return repeat rapists and murderers back onto our St. Louis streets. Shrewsbury must be held accountable!"
We got essentially the same comment on Ecology of Absence...
Posted by Michael Allen on Wed., Dec 20, 2006 at 8:13 PMI-Blame: That's a pretty bold statement to make without providing any proof of this so-called slashing. The truth is that Shrewsbury sponsored the Circuit Attorney's Pay Bill and gave her his city vehicle to transports victims and witnesses to the courts.
Posted by Thomas on Fri., Dec 22, 2006 at 9:50 AM
Right a Wrong. Submit any tips or story ideas by using our anonymous email form. Confidentiality is guaranteed.