By MATT PIKE

St. Joseph Post

When it comes to crime in St. Joseph, perception can stray from the reality.

St. Joseph Police Chief Paul Luster says a main contributor to a false perception is social media, which provides a source of instant or near-instant communication.

“That can lead often time to this rapid spread of rumors or misinformation about crime in the community,” Luster tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. “And then when you have that spreading rapidly, that’s going to amplify fear in the community, it can focus on some of the sensational incidents versus an overall trend of that.”

Luster says when you see information on Facebook or other social media, be sure to read it closely and learn all the information, because the last thing St. Joseph Police want is fear to be amplified.

“We’ve just seen a lot here lately within the community, and I’ve had some community members come to me with concerns about oh St. Joe has just gotten so dangerous,” Luster explains. “And so, I think as important as community engagement is that we talk about that.”

Luster says while the public perceives crime is getting worse, St. Joseph Police have actually seen a decrease in violent crime.

St. Joseph Police officers are working to help shift people’s perception of crime to more closely match reality.

Luster says in an effort to engage with the community, officers will go out and meet with community groups to talk about problems.

“We are more than happy to send a member of our department out to your community meeting, your neighborhood watching meeting, we’ll go over the statistics with you we have nothing to hide in that regard,” Luster says. “I was looking before I came here, just in the month of September we hit about one neighborhood watch meeting a week.”

Luster says Crime Prevention Sergeant Jeremy Peters meets with groups and presents crime statistics, but also gives tools to help make a more robust neighborhood watch group, which are tools Luster says helps reduce crime in the city.

You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.