St. Louis apartment complex generated 530 police calls in 2023, report says
ST. LOUIS – As St. Louis grapples with a police shortage, FOX 2 has discovered a single city address has generated more than 530 police calls over the previous year.
It’s the same place that saw the largest mass drug overdose in city history one year earlier.
It’s been almost two years now since all of the overdoses at Parkview Apartments on Forest Park Boulevard in the Central West End.
The high volume of police calls suggests things may be getting worse, not better.
“It’s not a surprise,” Parkview resident Demetria Ransom said after learning of the alarming number of police calls to her building. “I would think (it was) more, honestly—a lot of domestic violence, drugs, fighting.”
Ransom moved to Parkview Apartments shortly after 11 fentanyl overdoses, nine of them fatal, were traced to the building. The suspected fentanyl dealer lived at Parkview. She died awaiting trial.
Records show in 2023 that St. Louis police had 538 calls for service from Parkview, with four suspicious or overdose deaths in a single five-week period. There was also a deadly afternoon shooting around the corner that began with a domestic dispute at Parkview. The Central West End’s alderman and the CWE Neighborhood Security Initiative want change.
“It’s not something that the people in that building deserve. Obviously, they don’t want to be in that situation either. It’s not fair to the neighbors who live around there or the businesses trying to operate around there,” Alderman Michael Browning (Ward 9) said.
“This isn’t a police issue necessarily. It’s an issue where you have residents who suffer from this addiction. You’ve got to get some social service help in there,” Jim Whyte, executive director of the CWE Neighborhood Security Initiative, said.
“You can try to police the problem away here. You can secure all the exits but people, if they want to get drugs, they’ll still find a way to get drugs,” Browning said. “So, it’s got to be about meeting their needs. It’s got to be about getting them the resources that they need.”
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“You’ve got people now that are attracted to that building because of the obvious drug use that’s going on. People are getting into the building that shouldn’t be in there,” Whyte said. “It’s just concerning when we see this many deaths concentrated in this one spot… You see the problems that are taking place in this building that spill over into the community.”
Fear is growing beyond the apartments, from the nearby Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University Medical School campus to surrounding homes and businesses.
The St. Louis Housing Authority operates the 295-unit building.
A spokeswoman tells Fox 2 that NARCAN, which reverses overdoses, is now more readily available. She points out that most police calls are duplicates from different residents or for non-emergencies. Staff is holding educational meetings with residents, offering tips and guidelines for requesting police services.
The building is also transitioning to senior-only residents.
Ransom is the young mother of a 9-month-old daughter.
She believes a seniors-only facility would lead to less crime and far fewer police calls.
She’s eager to move.
“I would love to. If they call me today or tomorrow, I would be gone…I never felt comfortable here,” she said.
“At the end of the day, (the residents) deserve a safe place to live. They deserve to stay healthy,” Browning said.
He’s working with the housing authority for a better 2024 at Parkview.
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