St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore is taking his prosecutors out of the courthouse and into the city’s neighborhoods in an effort to rebuild trust, support victims and get a tighter grip on crime. The Circuit Attorney’s Neighborhood Collaboration program is already up and running in Dutchtown and Mount Pleasant, with Academy, Sherman Park, Shaw and Ellendale next in line.
The office rolled out the initiative in a March 9 news release, explaining that Assistant Circuit Attorneys will be assigned to neighborhood associations as steady, recognizable points of contact for residents. Their jobs include helping victims, working with witnesses and offering more visibility into how cases move through the system, a strategy the office describes as a way to strengthen neighborhood partnerships and speed local responses to crime. Neighborhood associations that want in were told to contact Leann J. Mosby, director of community engagement, according to the Circuit Attorney’s Office.
Gore told First Alert Forward that after spending the past two years rebuilding staff and working through a backlog of inherited cases, his team is now in a position to step more fully into the community. Residents, he said, will have someone they can call directly to ask what is happening with investigations, arrests and charges and expect a timely, straightforward answer. He added that the program is designed to make it easier for witnesses to come forward by showing them they have visible support in their own neighborhoods…