Illinois State Police reports progress in addressing crime in East St Louis
Illinois State Police and community leaders in East St. Louis touted a partnership to combat gun violence and other crimes in the city during a press conference at East St. Louis City Hall Tuesday morning.
Brendan Kelly, director of the Illinois State Police, opened the event with thanking the year-long community collaboration in East St. Louis, which he says has led to making the area safer. Last year, the Illinois State Police’s Public Safety Enforcement Group (PSEG) was implemented to assist the East St. Louis Police Department with violent crimes in the area.
“Case by case, victim by victim, violent crime is being investigated,” Kelly said. “Victims of the families are receiving support. Trust is being strengthened. Violent offenders are being held accountable.”
The Public Safety Enforcement Group consists of over 20 officers, including those from Illinois State Police, East St. Louis Police and federally assigned task force officers. The group handles investigations dealing with all fatal shootings, aggravated assault, sexual assault and robbery.
Since October of 2020, the unit has opened nearly 400 investigations, and East St. Louis has witnessed a reduction in homicides and non-fatal shootings compared to the year before PSEG existed. From October 19, 2019 to October 18, 2020, East St. Louis had 41 homicides. From October 19, 2020, to October 18, 2021, there were 31 homicides. As of Tuesday, there has been a 12 percent reduction in non-fatal shootings in the area compared to last year.
Officials also praised the unit’s clearance rate, which is 55 percent for homicides this year. Last year, the clearance rate for solving homicides in East St. Louis was 40 percent.
East St. Louis has one of the nation’s highest murder rates. Between 2000 to 2018 there were 453 murders within the 14-mile borders, 83% of which were gunshot related, according to a 2019 Belleville News-Democrat investigation. Additionally, 75% of those murders went unsolved.
Mayor Robert Eastern III shared a personal experience of the impact and unsolved murder can have on a family.
“May 1991: There was a man who was murdered, and on the scene of the murder there was his two sons that came and was at his murder scene, and his murder was unsolved,” Eastern said. “That murder devastated the family for quite some time. That man who was murdered was my grandfather and the two people who were at the murder scene was my dad and uncle, so his murder was unsolved.”
Mayor Eastern III said his grandfather’s case is the main reason he didn’t hesitate to partner with the Illinois State Police. He said he’s grateful for the community coming together to address crime and its effects on a family.
Carolyn Seay, whose 44-year-old daughter Dwonique was murdered in July in East St. Louis, thanked the Public Safety Enforcement Group for helping her family heal from the tragedy. She said within 24 hours of her daughter’s murder, the unit had a suspect in custody.
“We’re saddened as we approach the holidays,” Seay said. “It’s been real rough. I’m just holding on every day and just counting it as a blessing. She was 44 years old and she left us with a whole in our heart ... but with the help of my pastor and family members, we’re holding on.”
Seay said she didn’t know how she’d get through the loss of her daughter without the help of the PSEG unit.
“Our belief in the PSEG model is simple and based on evidence,” Brendan Kelly said. “The best way for police to build trust and credibility in a community is by passionately investigating all violent crimes so victims and their families see that police truly care about them. ... A critical part of PSEG’s success is addressing the trauma that victims and victims’ families experience when a violent act occurs.”
Kelly said the Public Safety Enforcement Group has worked directly with community support services like Community Life Line and East St. Louis School District 189’s Wraparound Wellness Center. The Wraparound Wellness Center, which started in January, is an extension of the district’s traditional counseling resources to ensure students have access to trauma services in the evenings and during the weekend.
Dr. Tiffany Gholson, director of the Wraparound Wellness Center, said her group has partnered with the Illinois State Police and the East St. Louis Police Department to directly provide trauma services to victims and families through its SOS (Support on Scene) Team. She said the team is dispatched to the scene of any traumatic event involving a student in the area to provide support.
“We fully wrap around our families and our students, so we aren’t just on the scene during the crisis,” Dr. Gholson said. “We aren’t just there at their house 24 hours later, which we are. We’re at the funerals and then we make sure we do the heavy work afterwards.”
Other speakers at Tueday’s press conference included Kendall Perry, East St. Louis police chief; Steven Weinhoeft, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois; James Gomric, St. Clair County State’s Attorney; Rep. LaToya Greenwood (D-East St. Louis); Sen. Chris Belt (D-Swansea); and Wyvetta Granger, CEO of Community Life Line
“It takes the community to be engaged,” Wyvetta Granger said. “When we see something, we must say something, and we understood that if we all work together, we can find answers and we can be a part of the solution of our community.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2021 at 3:21 PM.
