ST. LOUIS — Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and police Chief Robert Tracy teamed up for a public service announcement on Thursday night.
In a video posted to social media at 10 p.m. sharp, Jones looked into the camera and said, “It’s 10 p.m. St. Louis. Do you know where your children are?â€
Tracy, standing beside Jones, added: “It takes everyone to build a safer St. Louis.â€
The 10 p.m. line is a throwback. Politicians and news stations have been asking and airing the question at least since the 1960s, sometimes in response to rising concerns about crime or trouble with youths.
The city has had some of those concerns of late. To be sure, through June, homicides, shootings and assaults were roughly in line with where they were at the same time last year, when the city boasted its best numbers in a decade.
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But over the Fourth of July weekend, a rash of shootings and illegal fireworks engulfed parts of downtown in chaos, prompted yet another round of criticism from residents and commentators who say the city isn’t doing enough to keep heart of the region safe.
And juveniles were a significant part of the problem: Of the 42 people arrested in the downtown area between July 3 and July 7, 19 were young people cited for weapon violations, fireworks, assaults and destruction of property, police said.
Conner Kerrigan, a spokesperson for the mayor, said Thursday’s public service announcement was planned before the incidents and not conceived in response.
But he conceded it had some serendipitous timing. And he said more videos are on the way.
The mayor’s office is working to address crime with police, social service providers and a partnership with governments across the region, Kerrigan said.
“This is a way of bringing the community into it, too.â€