The goal of this research is to describe changes in enforcement activity in the City of St. Louis from 2007 through 2017 and to better understand community variation in these trends. Results indicate that enforcement activity decreased over the study period, particularly for non-felony arrests among Blacks. With the exception of summonses, enforcement actions declined in most neighborhoods but were most pronounced in communities characterized by high levels of economic disadvantage. Reductions in misdemeanor and bench warrants arrests also were greater in communities with higher percentages of Blacks; however, the percent of Black residents in a neighborhood was positively related to changes in the number of criminal summonses issued. The findings highlight the importance of disaggregating crime trends by community and looking beyond traditional felony-only measures of law enforcement activity.
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