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Zen City presents neighborhood survey data showing split between falling crime and community perception
Summary
Zen City told the board it has collected over 6,000 weighted responses since September 2025 (about 600 per month). Its data show a roughly 50% overall sense of safety, neighborhood/demographic variation and a notable divergence: about 30% of respondents believe violent crime has increased despite official crime declines.
Zen City representatives briefed the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners on July 15 about a citywide community-survey effort the department contracted last year.
Communications director Mitch McCoy introduced the presentation and said the tool offers neighborhood- and demographic-level measurement to supplement traditional community meetings. Veil Holomish, Zen City vice president of account management, said the vendor has collected over 6,000 responses since September 2025 and now provides roughly 600 weighted responses per month for the department.
Holomish summarized headline findings: the overall “sense of safety” metric has been stable around 50%, but localized events can produce sharp changes — he cited a December double homicide that led to a drop in District 6’s sense of safety and a pronounced decline in perceived safety among Black respondents for a period. He also noted a gap between recorded crime reductions and public perception: “despite the crime numbers going down … we’re seeing that the perception is actually that violent crime has gone up by about 30% of the community,” Holomish said.
Zen City described its methods: digital ad distribution to reach residents, geofencing to target city boundaries, ZIP‑code verification and a rake‑weighting process to align survey samples with census demographics. Commissioners asked about geofencing and sample diversity; Zen City said they validate respondents by self‑reported ZIP code and adjust samples when gaps appear. The vendor also said it can benchmark Saint Louis against cohorts of similar cities and provide tailored questions to test communications and pilot programs before rollout.
The board heard that Zen City will brief department command staff and train captains and analysts to incorporate the data into ComStat meetings. No board action was required on the presentation.
