Last week, representatives from the Metro Patrol Division of the KC Police Department, along with County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker hosted a meeting for residents and businessowners in the Brookside/Waldo area at Research Medical Center. Leaders from the Brookside Business Assn and the Waldo Area Business Assn put the meeting together in response to the increased crime in our neighborhood. I attended the meeting and wanted to share several takeaways from the 90 minute presentation/discussion*:

–Property crimes and auto thefts have increased in our area. This includes stolen cars, business break ins, porch pirates and car looting. There are five people working property crimes, with 15-19 crimes as a daily average.

–KCPD doesn’t have the active duty police force it once did–due to persons retiring, COVID, not as many people applying to be officers. The process to become an active duty officer takes almost 2 years. However, trends are “going in the right direction” according to the KCPL human resources head who spoke.

–When someone calls 911, depending on who is available, the officer responding could be coming from north KC or far south KC. Response can take longer than expected due to travel time.

–Juveniles are responsible for much of these property and violent crime. The police are aware of a particular group of these kids. Their motivation? Could be money, drugs-but also it’s very much a macho group thing, posting on social media and knowing there is a slim chance they will get caught and prosecuted.

–As for houseless people roaming the streets, setting up camps, harassing pedestrians and small shops, urinating in public, etc–a low barrier shelter is desperately needed in KCMO. And last week the KC City Council did approve funding for such a shelter in the NE area of the city.

–Jean Peters Baker, Jackson County Prosecutor, along with the officers, did seem to express frustration with some of the current laws on the books, evidence needed and paperwork involved with trying to prosecute these people when caught, especially the younger kids. Witnesses often won’t talk.

–The police had several suggestions to deter property crime: keep your cars empty of any valuables and locked at all times; set up security systems; keep your vehicle in a garage. One attendee suggested the police staff a small pop up storefront in Brookside and Waldo for quick response to the community; it didn’t seem like that suggestion would be implemented. Several neighbors and small businesses are setting up phone trees to keep the lines of communication open and immediate when something happens.

Overall, I think it was a productive meeting; personally, I would like to see this meeting conducted every other month so we can get accurate reports on any progress being made by the KCPD and prosecutor’s office. The police seem to be frustrated with the higher level of crime and just don’t have the staff to be more pro-active; that was my main takeaway. Here’s a summary of the meeting from one of the news stations:

https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/residents-from-waldo-brookside-neighborhoods-pack-meeting-on-crime-issues

To track crime in the neighborhood, here’s a link from the KCPD website:

https://www.kcpd.org/crime/crime-mapping/

*Disclaimer: I am not a journalist and my notes from this meeting may not be 100% accurate! The AV equipment broke down early in the meeting so the written stats being presented were not readily available.