St. Louis seeks help from Kansas City for reducing homicides

ST. LOUIS -- As St. Louis law enforcement officials grapple with a high homicide rate, they're seeking tips from Kansas City, where an anti-violence initiative has helped decrease the number of killings.

The Kansas City Star reported a group of St. Louis community members and law enforcement officials planned to visit Kansas City to study the Kansas City No Violence Alliance.

There have been 22 homicides in St. Louis this year, which is more than the city had this time last year. Kansas City, which has a larger population, has had only 10 homicides this year.

Susan Ryan, a spokeswoman for Jennifer Joyce, the circuit attorney for the city of St. Louis, said the group has been traveling to other cities such as Philadelphia and New York to study their violence reduction programs.

"We've been traveling around the country to study best practices and strategies," she said.

KC NoVa is a coalition of leaders from the political, law enforcement, community, academic, clergy and social service areas.

The coalition uses a two-pronged strategy to identify the most active criminal groups, and targets them for increased police scrutiny while offering social service help to those who want to a criminal lifestyle behind.

Professors from the university have used social networking software to link individuals to criminal groups. Once the link is made, the individuals receive a message that violence will no longer be tolerated. If they do not stop committing violent acts, they will be subjected to intense police action.

But they're also offered the chance to get help with job training, education, housing, substance abuse treatment, and child care.