Slay to call for tougher Metro security after wave of attacks
Mayor Francis Slay will join the city’s new acting police chief at City Hall today to call for tougher security at MetroLink stations. 
The push comes after a wave of assaults near the Delmar Loop, detailed in a story by Post-Dispatch transit scribe Ken Leiser, including one where a gang of at least 20 youths attacked a family at the Forest Park MetroLink station.
Alderman Lyda Krewson, whose ward includes the area around the park, has called the attacks “pretty unusual”; Blueberry Hill proprietor Joe Edwards has called them an “aberration.”
Slay, in a statement on his website, took a slightly different take, suggesting the perpetrators migrated in from the county.
“One of the many disturbing elements in the recent incidents is a report that throngs of badly intentioned youths from other municipalities have been walking across the city line from University City,” Slay writes, “and threatening customers and employees of stores and restaurants in the Loop’s eastern portion,” which is in St. Louis.
The city recently passed the century mark for the year in homicides; the last thing it needs now is seemingly random attacks at a major tourist destination.
Today’s 2 p.m. press conference will be the first joint public appearance between Slay and the department’s interim leader, Lt. Colonel Stephen Pollihan, who replaced the recently-retired Joe Mokwa.
It’s time St. Louisans fought back against this criminal behavior. NRA promotes guns for protection. Keep that in mind.
Why are people wanting to blame the Mayor at every turn? Doesn’t the county and Metrolink have some responsibility here? I do think there should be more emphasis on security and a stronger police presence in and around Metrolink trains and stations. Might as well include downtown. I am a St. Louisan who has been living in Florida since 1985 but who comes home about twice a year.I personally don’t feel threatened when I am in the city but I do understand that until whites feel safe being in the city most won’t spend much time there. Problem is most of the fear centers around the black violent offenders. It’s not PC to say or deal with this so not much really gets done. I was on the Metrolink a few weeks back with my wife and step daughter who is ten. It was their frist time riding and it was generally ok except for a black woman who felt she needed to use the “F” word 10 times in every sentence. Sadly, I pretty much accepted it as usual conduct but my wife was pretty upset. It really left them both with a negative impression of us. Why blacks in places like Atlanta get it while most blacks here don’t is a mystery. As Jim White used to say “you can’t fix stupid”.
If more citizens had a CCW and carried with them at all times, it may be a deterent to these thugs. They would know that they are not dealing with easy targets and may be picking on the wrong person.
The Police are there to clean up the crime and investigate it, not prevent it. They can not be everywhere all the time. Take your security into your own hands, and protect yourself and your family.
I ride both branches of MetroLink pretty frequently, and there always seems to be more security on the Shrewsbury branch… maybe the solution lies at least partially in reallocating what security presence exists now. There don’t seem to be a whole lot of ruffians at the Brentwood station, for instance, and yet there’s almost always a security guard or two there.
Alderman Lyda Krewson, whose ward includes the area around the park, has called the attacks “pretty unusual”; …..the only thing “pretty unusual” is responsibility. Responsibility in government…admitting there is a problem,trying to discount it or fob it off on someone else.And responsibility in parenting. Anybody (or biological entity, for that matter) can reproduce. The problem is in lazy parents who selfishly care so little for their children as to not take the time to teach them right from wrong, to disipline in a loving manner. Any idiot can raise a thug. REAL parents raise children they can be proud of!……..”It takes a village to raise an idiot”.
Read “Daily Rider’s” post from page 1. Very funny. Right on point.
I am glad that it is being called “dangerous”. IT CAN BE! It has been confirmed by police that a big part of robbery and violence on The Landing, Forest Park, and downtown is because of perpetrators taking the Metro Link, lack of security and lack of checking for tickets.
Good for the people who take it everyday. You aren’t a statistic. However, other people are. When someone starts appeasing criminals who terrorize people you are an accomplice in my eyes. I hope that those who turn their heads start having a hard time sleeping tonight.
Good job Slay! Better late than never. I work downtown and am sick of the violence.
Ha ha, what a joke! So Krewson thinks it’s “unusual” and Edwards thinks it’s “an aberration,” eh? Do they think we’re all that stupid? Obviously, neither of them regularly uses the Metro-Stink. And the mayor thinks all the crime problems come from somewhere else? Geez, what are they gonna try to sell us next - the Brooklyn Bridge? Nobody wants to say what needs to be said - there’s obviously a criminal element endemic to the city that need to be cracked down on, hard and immediately. Otherwise, the city of St. Louis, will continue its steep decline into anarchy, and instead of being known as “the Loo,” will soon be known as “the Zoo.” A Thug Paradise, indeed!
Ryan, perhaps the reason the ”ruffians” are not at the Brentwood/Shrewsbury stations is because of the presence of security guards?
I too agree that Metro should stop the honor system. Maybe that’s why Metro is always in the red, people riding but not paying.
And for the record, what we DON’T need are more people carrying guns. It is not our place to take security into our own hands. That’s just stupid. Perhaps if we were not a gun happy society we wouldn’t be having the problems we have. European countries don’t seem to have such a HUGE problem with guns.
As a resident of U-City, I live within walking distance of the Delmar Loop. Up until last year, I use to enjoy meeting friends and dinning out at the restaurants. Not anymore–too dangerous. Can’t even enjoy a peaceful evening because of the loitering kid’s (looking for trouble) and roaring motor cycle clubs. Its such a shame to see the Loop go down this way. This can’t be good for the restaurants and other business owners in the area. If this trend continues, it will at some point begin to negatively impact my property value, I am almost certain of that!!