Fenton police report: arrests and shoplifting rise; fentanyl incidents noted

Captain Kevin Lawson, commander of the Saint Louis County Police Department’s Fenton Precinct, gave the monthly police report for March 2025 to the Fenton Board of Aldermen, saying calls for service rose from February and that arrests increased compared with both the previous month and March 2024.

Lawson said the precinct made 39 arrests in March 2025 compared with 29 in March 2024 and 29 the month before. He said the business district accounted for the bulk of property-crime arrests: “Out of those 39, 22 of them were in the business district, which creates a lot of our shoplifting and theft issues,” Lawson said.

The report said the precinct recorded 549 calls for service in the primary business district for March 2025, which Lawson described as about 147 more than the previous month but substantially lower than March 2024. Police logged 20 shoplifting/theft incidents in March, six fraud incidents (largely theft of credit card information or identity-related), and two incidents of property destruction tied to thefts from vehicle dashboards.

Lawson told the board the department recorded nine incidents classified as crimes against persons in March, including four aggravated assaults and three simple assaults. He noted that the “aggravated assault” classification can include incidents less severe than the label suggests, and he described several March cases, including a domestic-violence arrest tied to a residential dispute and an assault at a drinking establishment in which a customer threw food at an employee and later was arrested.

Lawson also told the board narcotics enforcement remains active: he said four different narcotics incidents in the past month involved fentanyl. “Fentanyl is still an issue that we’re seeing within the city of Fenton,” he said, thanking officers who led that enforcement.

On traffic enforcement, Lawson reported increased citations and described deployment of a radar trailer and a “stealth” speed unit. He gave specific speed data from two locations: Larkin Williams Drive/Woodway Circle produced averages in the mid-teens with maximums in the high 20s, while Old Highway 141 produced measured speeds up to 47 mph with an 85th-percentile speed roughly 39 mph—above the posted 30 mph limit—prompting targeted enforcement when Officer Melton returned from leave.

Lawson credited the department’s video analytics (“flock”) system with locating a suspect who allegedly struck a victim’s vehicle at a gas station; staff were also able to track and recover a missing person through multiple interstate locations using that system. He described the system as an important investigative tool.

The report closed with community events: the department and the Fenton Fire Protection District plan a joint open house on May 17 at the fire district’s new facility, and the department will host a DEA drug take-back this coming Saturday with a new permanent collection box at the station.

Why this matters: the monthly figures show shoplifting and theft as the largest property‑crime drivers in the city’s business district and highlight fentanyl as an ongoing narcotics concern. The department’s targeted enforcement and use of automated video tools are part of its response strategy.

The board and several aldermen thanked Lawson for his service during the report; Lawson later received a retirement proclamation during the meeting.