Saint Louis University was named the most dangerous university in Missouri in a recent study by SafeHome.org, reigniting concerns over campus safety. For prospective students and their families, safety is a top priority, and SLU’s location in St. Louis, a city with an often-publicized crime rate, may appear worrisome. However, crime rates are going down, and a deeper look into the data and the reality of life on campus reveals a different story.
Each university is legally required by The Clery Act to collect and report crime data. However, they are not required to volunteer it for studies, such as this one. This study makes broad claims based on voluntarily reported data from a small sample of universities, explained Ness Sandoval, a sociology professor at SLU with years of experience analyzing St. Louis crime data.
“This study lacks clarity,” Sandoval said. “I understand the motivation behind it, but I believe scholars in the field may have concerns about including every type of crime in a single index. I would find it difficult to replicate the study because so much information is missing in the methodology.”
St. Louis regularly ranks among the U.S. cities with the highest crime rates. The city reported approximately 6,017 violent crimes in 2022, making it one of the highest per-capita crime rates in the nation.
However, the city’s crime statistics are often presented without key context. Unlike most major metropolitan areas, St. Louis City and St. Louis County are politically and geographically separate entities. Crime in St. Louis County, which includes many affluent suburbs, is not included in the city’s overall crime rate, which creates an inflated perception of the city’s crime.
A significant portion of St. Louis’ crime occurs in a few high-crime neighborhoods, many of which are many miles away from SLU’s Midtown campus. Midtown, like other parts of St. Louis, has undergone extensive redevelopment, and SLU’s campus sits within a relatively well-maintained area with a strong security presence.
Shayne Clegg, a senior majoring in criminology and forensics, said many of his peers joke about how dangerous the city is.
“My parents came to visit me in the spring for the first time since freshman move-in, and I remember just how shocked they looked driving over the Delmar Divide,” Clegg said. “The city’s long history of racism and division has always been a factor in crime, and just as racism continues to persist so strongly, high crime rates will too.”
St. Louis has long been affected by structural issues such as racism, segregation and gerrymandering, all of which have influenced the allocation of resources and perpetuated disparities across neighborhoods. Redlining policies from the mid-20th century segregated Black communities, pushing them into underfunded areas where crime rates have historically been higher.
Many of these communities have since been left with fewer resources for schools, infrastructure and policing, creating pockets of poverty that experts say correlate with higher crime rates.
“I am not from St. Louis, and when I told colleagues at my previous university that I was coming down here, they asked me if I had lost my mind,” said SLU Department of Public Safety (DPS) Chief Melinda Heikkinen, who came to SLU in 2021, discussed safety on campus and beyond. “They, like many people, looked at the numbers and nothing else. Yes, St. Louis does have a fairly high crime rate, but it is also known for tight-knit communities, a great sports and food scene and free access to parks and museums.”
Heikkinen also explained that people who focus only on the high crime rate tend to miss a key point: crime rates are going down.
“In August, KSDK reported that violent crime overall has gone down 2.2%, property crimes have gone down 12.6%, crimes against society—such as drug violations, betting, prostitution and driving under the influence—have gone down 6.3%, and unspecified crimes have gone down 26.2%. There is still a way to go, but it is moving in the right direction,” Heikkinen said.
The university takes the safety of its students and staff seriously and has invested heavily in campus security measures, like 24/7 campus patrols and a network of emergency blue light phones scattered across campus, Heikkinen said. DPS also partners with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
“We are currently one of the largest campus public safety departments in the state of Missouri,” Heikkinen said. The campus is also equipped with a state-of-the-art surveillance system, and DPS offers safety escorts for students who may feel uneasy walking alone at night. Heikkinen said these measures are part of SLU’s comprehensive approach to campus safety, which is designed to prevent incidents before they occur and respond swiftly if they do.
According to data from SLU’s 2022 Clery Report, the university reported 22 cases of on-campus burglaries and 24 cases of motor vehicle theft. While these numbers may seem concerning, Heikkinen notes that the vast majority of incidents involve property crimes, not violent offenses. By contrast, property crime rates are far lower than those at other urban universities across the country.
Athena Valera-Barrios, a senior international business major and St. Louis native, says that she has “never felt unsafe on SLU’s campus.” Explaining that she has heard crime stories from others, she said, “I’m from here, and I have been taught to be self-aware.”
Public perception of St. Louis is also heavily influenced by media coverage, which tends to focus on crime in the most troubled neighborhoods. This contributes to the city’s negative reputation, often ignoring the safe and vibrant communities within the city, including Midtown. St. Louis, like many major cities, has a patchwork of neighborhoods with varying safety profiles, but media narratives can conflate the entire city with its most dangerous areas.
The perception problem is compounded by the fact that most people who haven’t lived in St. Louis are unfamiliar with the nuances of these neighborhoods, said Valera-Barrios.
“I’ve listened to enough stories about people who are not St. Louis natives. There are rare cases where people put themselves in a situation that is unsafe, and then they tell that story, and the story spreads,” Valera-Barrios said. “People already come in with the idea that St. Louis is unsafe, so it makes it feel more unsafe.”
SLU may be located in a city that struggles with its public image, but for many who live, study and work here, the reality of safety on campus is far from scary.
