ST. LOUIS – A commission focused on combatting crime in St. Louis County that has been dormant for some time will start meeting again soon.

County Executive Sam Page announced Wednesday morning that the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, also known as the Crime Commission, will relaunch soon.
The commission has actually been in existence since 1976.

It’s a nine-member group consisting of multiple county leaders including the county executive, the county council chair, the prosecuting attorney and county police chief.

The commission’s main goal is to develop a comprehensive countywide plan to improve law enforcement and criminal justice in St. Louis County.

Page tells us the commission will develop programs and projects to enhance public safety and will also work to find funding when it is needed. He reconvened the commission in 2019 after a violent summer with tragic cases involving children and guns.

The commission started holding monthly meetings, but then had to stop because of the pandemic.

Page announced this morning that the commission will start meeting again on February 23rd. He says that the commission is an opportunity for leaders to work together on the county’s top issue of public safety.

“I think anytime you have a complex policy question and crime and public safety is that, then it’s important to get together all the stakeholders and make sure they’re communicating well and all the complicated issues are out on the table and that’s what we need to do. That’s where we started in 2019 before other emergency situations kind of slowed us down a little bit so we’re coming right back at it,” said Page.

Page indicated this morning that juvenile suspects and how those cases are treated will be something that this commission could discuss. We’re told the meetings will be public and should happen monthly.