To Serve and Protect

 

On May 24th of this year Ingram's and KCPT convened prosecutors, civic leaders, law enforcement representatives and other media to discuss, particularly that of violent crimes. The meeting was well representative of the metro region including the two most significant counties of concern, Jackson and Wyandotte.

The overall mood of those who met were genuine and sincere. At the time of this meeting, though media had fueled concerns of a significant rise in violent crimes and homicides, the consensus of the group was a bit cavalier and believed it was too early to be alarmed of the spike in crime. At the beginning of June, (As of June 3rd), the number of homicides in the Kansas City area was at 44. As of the time of this writing, Kansas City had recorded its 96th homicide and was on its way to a year-end number much higher than what we’ve seen in recent years, perhaps of all time.

In 1993 the Kansas City area experienced its all-time high in violent crimes with 153 homicides. Jackson County Prosecutor Mike Sanders noted that “millions of dollars that were invested to fight crime between the mid-90s and the early 2000s have dried up. As leaders and politicians, we need to re-invest in crime prevention.” Frankly, I couldn’t agree more with Sanders recommendation.

The media tends to elevate issues, particularly matters like violent crimes. I would say, however, that there needs to be more attention to this issue and that whatever measures we took over the past decade to prevent crime should be put back into action.

We moved Ingram’s Magazine a year ago from 12th and McGee in Downtown Kansas City to the Freight House District south of Downtown. In this time we’ve not encountered any issues. When we were located Downtown, however, there was a fifteen month period that my vehicle was vandalized 12 times. I knew this was a problem when the responsive folks at Kryger Glass started calling me by my first name.

Two incidents are particularly concerning. The first was when I left my office and walked around the building to the parking lot and found amidst the broken glass, my car doors open and an extremely large black man rummaging through it. I called 911 and reported the incident when I was told that they would immediately respond.

When the KCMO police car arrived at the scene 30 minutes later, I felt a bit awnry and hit the vehicle panic button. Maybe I watch too much television, but I wanted to add a little drama. To my surprise the police car that I thought was responding to my call slowed down, observed what was going on and drove away. The moral of that lesson is to never assume the deals over until it is. The thug loaded his arms full of my gear and stumbled past me. When I asked if that was his stuff, he gave me the TODDI theory, “The other dude did it,” and kept walking. When I told him it was my stuff, he dropped it and fortunately stumbled away grumbling—he likely found enough cash for another bottle of ripple and thankfully I’ve not seen him sense.

The more concerning incident, however, may shock you. I entered our Argyle Building lobby one morning when I was confronted by a transient, (panhandling is big Downtown). When I asked if he wouldn’t mind leaving the building he started swinging, spitting and going a bit ballistic. I escorted him out and called 911 once again. He walked eastward on 12th street and I followed in a distance. Our office was located less than 2 blocks from the KCMO Police Headquarters and interestingly, the guy walked right to the Police station at 12th and Locust and stood on the southeast corner taunting the officers and me. I asked for assistance from an officer and explained that I was assaulted and had called 911 nearly half an hour prior. He mentioned that he worked in administration and couldn’t help. I asked another and he mentioned he worked homicide and that he wouldn’t help—I suggested that he stick around. I asked 11 other KCMO Police officers or personnel and not one of them offered to assist. The assailant stood on the corner and continued to laugh. I then understood what he was laughing about.

The responding officer showed up nearly an hour after the call but by this time the thug drifted into the fabric of the city streets to the south. We drove around but to no avail. When I asked the officer what caused the delay in response and unaccommodating attitude among his colleagues, he literally spilled his guts. “We don’t have enough manpower Downtown, for that matter anywhere and we can’t respond to crime as we should.” I didn’t realize it would turn into a therapy session, but it did.

I called then KCMO Police Chief Rick Easley and explained my concerns. Chief Easley was empathetic and shared my discouragement, particularly that 13 of his own staff, police officers included, would not assist. To be fair, it wasn’t an overly dangerous situation, but it does pose the question of how safe our community really is.

I share this experience not to embarrass the KCMO Police Department but to point out the issues associated with crime on the street level in KC’s urban core. Since this episode several positive things have occurred Downtown including the removal of dozens of buildings to clear way for redevelopment. It does not, however, resolve the concern of putting police officers on the street in adequate numbers to react to, much less work to prevent crime from happening.

I for one think there’s a significant concern to adequately staff law enforcement personnel in our community. I have to believe that the 2005 hike in violent crimes has a direct correlation with budgeting and perhaps how serious we perceive these problems really are. Through my own bad experiences coupled with a significant spike in crime, I believe it’s time that elected officials and civic leaders demand that we address these issues so to reclaim this city we’re proud to call home.

 

Regards,

Editor-In-Chief & Publisher

jsweeney@ingramsonline.com