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ST. LOUIS - St. Louis police say an initiative targeting high-crime areas at night has paid off, and they're trying to determine how to maintain that momentum.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that police cite a 68 percent drop in crime in the targeted neighborhoods. But police leaders said Tuesday that sustaining it will require better use of existing resources and even gun control legislation at the federal level.

The strategy known as the Homicide Deterrence Initiative pulled about 100 officers from day shifts and put them on patrols from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. in about a dozen high-crime areas.

The department plans to continue to have officers in those areas for the next 30 to 45 days. Meanwhile, University of Missouri-St. Louis criminologists will study the strategy's effectiveness.