EAST ST. LOUIS • U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin stood in front of a housing complex on Wednesday and asked Mayor Alvin Parks to rein in the city's club scene.

Parks was in the audience as Durbin (D-Ill.) criticized the city for not doing enough to crack down on late-night liquor store sales and club operations, which he said create an "atmosphere of violence."

"We need you to do your part," Durbin said, while looking at Parks.

Durbin called for a 1 a.m. cutoff for alcohol sales in stores and clubs.

East St. Louis has one of the highest crime rates in the country, according to statistics. Durbin said the city's crime rate is four times the state average and twice that of the city of Chicago.

The formal purpose of the news conference was for Durbin, who grew up in East St. Louis, to announce $400,000 in federal spending for security measures — mostly cameras monitored by police — at six high-rise housing complex buildings.

Durbin stood in front of the Orr Weathers complex, flanked by residents and some of the area's top prosecutors, U.S. Attorney Steve Wigginton and St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly.

Later, Parks said the city has already reined in the clubs by requiring them to have increased security.

"We wish we could step up more," Parks said. "We have a limitation of a thing called money."

Parks said he is against stopping liquor sales after 1 a.m. because of the sales tax those sales bring in.

Parks said he hoped Durbin would find federal money to help the city hire more police officers.

"There's nothing better than an East St. Louis police officer being on the ground," Parks said.

"The cameras will help, if they're not shot out," Parks said, adding that without manpower, cameras won't help officers respond to crimes in progress.