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.