Arson Declines In St. Paul
The incidence of incendiary and suspicious fires in St. Paul, Minn., has declined an average of 21.83 percent since 1977, a fact that St. Paul Chief Steve Conroy attributes to cooperation between the fire department and St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance.
Their cooperative effort has established such programs as tuition for fire/police arson team training, participation in Minnesota’s “Arson Reward” program, provision of a fully-equipped arson investigation van, the design and funding of a junior high school crime prevention program, and promotion of tougher state arson laws. The insurance company has also sponsored a series of antiarson advertisements.
