EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — At a National Law Enforcement Conference, President Trump pledged to give police the support they need to keep us safe. He promised to bring back "Project Safe Neighborhoods" or PSN.
PSN has already proven to be successful in the Metro East. It was implemented in East St. Louis exactly one year ago. Within the year, the city has gone from having one of the highest murder rates per capita, to dropping its homicide rate by 42 percent.
But, as the family of Roosevelt Davis Junior knows all-too-well, there is still work to be done.
"I come home from work, or I hear a song, and it reminds me that my son got killed less than a mile from where I work with a gun," said Dorothy Young, Davis' mother.
Davis was a record-breaking track star at East St. Louis High School. In April 2018, he was shot at a store near his house in Cahokia, Illinois. Even worse, Davis' killers have not been caught.
"I couldn't wait for him to turn the age that he was to be a grown young man," Davis' father, Roosevelt Davis, Sr., told 5 On Your Side.
It is these types of crimes that Project Safe Neighborhoods uses a variety of tactics to stop.
For example, in the Metro East, federal and state leaders meet every week with the police department to identify shootings done by repeat offenders, so that they can focus on convictions. This approach has been effective. But, Davis' mother wishes they could get to the kids before they even get a hold of a gun.
"I wish there was something I could do to prevent these children, especially that don't know what they're doing with these guns, that don't know how they hurt a heart," Young said.
The Illinois State Police is also stepping up its patrols in the area as part of the program. It is doing what it calls proactive patrols and is sending investigators to all crime scenes involving a gun. This is significant since East St. Louis receives roughly 1,300 calls for shots fired every year.
