Illinois Police Warn About What They Just Found in East St. Louis

I fully realize that I'm not giving you new information when I saw that East St. Louis, Illinois is often not a very safe place. But, what the Illinois State Police just shared about what they found in just 3 nights might just take your breath away.

Just a couple of weeks ago beginning the night of June 3 through the night of June 5, the Illinois State Police began a crackdown on violent crime elements in East St. Louis. They just shared a press release about what they found and what happened. Check out these numbers:

Arrests - 26
Felony Charges - 48
Criminal Charges - 61
Firearm Related Charges - 49
Firearms Seized - 18
Cannabis Seized - 184.9 grams
Controlled Substance Seized - 22 grams
Stolen Vehicles Recovered - 1

The first night they say they made a traffic stop and did a probable cause search where they found "a firearm, 5 grams of heroin, 6 grams of crack cocaine, 20 grams of cannabis and ecstasy pills were recovered."

The night of June 4, they made another stop where the suspect had "a stolen handgun with an extended magazine." Same evening they had 4 flee on foot later to find that 3 of them had stolen weapons.

Among other violations on the night of June 5, they apprehended a suspect who had a weapon with "a machine gun conversion device".

The press release from the Illinois State Police said this concerted effort involved "40 officers from around the state, including ISP Troops 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, ISP South Fatal Four Team, ISP Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 6, ISP Public Safety Enforcement Group, ISP Air Operations, and the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois, joined forces with the ISP Special Operation Group Statewide Anti-Violence Enforcement South Unit"

Keep in mind that all of those weapons and 48 felony charges happened in just 3 nights spent in East St. Louis, Illinois.

You can look at all the raw crime index numbers you want, but this microcosm of what was found in the city in just a 3 night span is all you need to know about avoiding that part of the East St. Louis area anytime that's possible.