St. Pete PD: Car thefts down, 144 guns stolen so far this year

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Pete Police Chief Anthony Holloway is preparing to update city council members on gun violence and recent crime within the city.

According to a quarterly report from St. Pete Police, auto thefts were down 41% between April and June of 2024. The city also had seven homicides take place during the three-month stretch taking the total for the year to 10 as of mid-August.

Data from St. Pete Police shows that between Jan. 1 and July 31, 144 guns have been reported stolen in the city. Of that, 110 were stolen from vehicles. Roughly 55 guns have been recovered to date.

Those numbers are on trend with previous years, with 251 guns reported stolen in 2023 and 274 the year prior.

Holloway says the department’s G.R.I.T team, which stands for Gun Response Investigation Team, has worked a total of 100 cases so far this year and works to connect the dots when the department receives a shots fired call.

“When we send detectives out there, they do a canvas and they see if they can locate any type of shell casings in that area,” he said. “We’re very fortunate we have a machine that can link that shell casing to a weapon or we can tell how many times that weapon has been used throughout the city and we’re able to close out a lot of cases.”

During the three-month span, St. Pete Police have made 20 arrests for robbery, 116 for burglary, and another 97 for car related thefts.