St. Louis County forming crime commission amid violence

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) - A crime commission is being formed in St. Louis County after a violent summer.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that County Executive Sam Page made the announcement Tuesday. The nine-member crime commission will coordinate the county's police, courts and jails in an effort to reduce crime.

Page says he walked around the scene where a 3-year-old boy fatally shot himself Friday with an unattended firearm and asked himself, "Why is this happening?" Nearly two dozen children have been killed in shootings in the St. Louis metropolitan area so far this year.

Page says he wants to look at "public safety as a whole." He says it's unclear what a comprehensive plan might look like. But he added that the county "cannot stand aside and hope it gets better."