The public service ads tout the basic theme: You drink. You drive. You lose. But that’s often not the case in metro St. Louis. Lenient plea deals, secrecy laws and outright mistakes have allowed most DWI offenders — including many chronic offenders — to avoid serious punishment — in a system-wide breakdown that has claimed lives in Missouri and Illinois. Explore this map of the municipalities in St. Louis County, Jefferson County and St. Charles counties and see which cities have the best and worst enforcement records.

Search the map below to find the places where local law enforcement officers write the most traffic tickets per square mile of their jurisdiction, or per person based on the population of the jurisdiction. Click the circles to view five years of ticket information in the charts below the map.

Search the map below to find the places where local law enforcement officers write the most traffic tickets per square mile of their jurisdiction, or per person based on the population of the jurisdiction. Click the municipalities to view five years of ticket information in the charts below the map.

Map by Kevin Crowe and Brian Williamson

Find out more

• Explore a map of Missouri and find out which municipality issues the most tickets.
• Read the article: Over the top ticketing tactics or simply enforcing the law?
• Search traffic stop statistics from more than 700 law enforcement agencies in Missouri.

About the research

The Post-Dispatch analysis included five years of traffic stop data which more than 700 law enforcement agencies are required to file with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. The information includes detailed statistics on numbers of traffic stops, citations and warnings issued by each agency. To create the citation rate per…

In the boom days from 2003 to 2006, home prices climbed in every corner of the city. People bought houses, in some cases with loans they couldn’t afford. But homeownership grew, and neighborhoods bloomed. Then the bubble burst, and many parts of St. Louis got hurt.

Map by Kevin Crowe and Brian Williamson; programming by Brian Williamson

With foreclosure rates still on the rise, what are the latest numbers from your community? This interactive graphic shows how the housing market has turned since 2005.