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Crime hits 25 year low

February 28, 2004 | 1 Comment

New crime stats show that KCMO’s crime rate dropped 7% in 2003, hitting the lowest level since 1978. Auto thefts were down 17% and burglaries were down 14%.

Kansas City crime hits lowest level in 25 years

STEPHANIE V. SIEK
Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City’s crime rate is at its lowest point since 1978, and police credited the drop to people simply talking to each other.

According to a report presented to the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, the overall crime rate dropped 7 percent in 2003, with 42,098 crimes reported.

That was the lowest total since 1978, when there were 37,799 crimes reported. Property crimes showed the biggest declines, with 17 percent fewer auto thefts and 14 percent fewer burglaries than in 2002.

Violent crime rose 2 percent from 2002, however. Rapes increased 3 percent, from 300 to 308. Aggravated assault rose 6 percent. Homicide and non-negligent manslaughter rates stayed the same, at 84 in 2002 and 2003.

Deputy Chief Vincent M. Ortega said the department had focused on finding the most violent criminals and repeat offenders and getting them off the streets. To do that, members of various agencies meet regularly to share information and discuss ways to use it.

Kansas City’s Violent Crimes Strategy Initiative includes representatives of the Police Department, county and federal prosecutors’ offices, the state Office of Probation and Parole, the FBI, the DEA, and the U.S. Marshal’s office.

Statistical mapping plays a role in determining the areas most affected by certain patterns of crime, but authorities also work on the assumption that a small number of people commit a large proportion of crimes.

Prosecutors get involved from the beginning of the criminal process, telling investigators what evidence they need for a conviction. Prosecutors can also pursue federal charges, such as being a felon in possession of a firearm, that would keep criminals in prison longer.

Ken Novak, a University of Missouri-Kansas City professor who researches the effectiveness of Project Safe Neighborhoods programs, said such charges can help reduce both violent and nonviolent crime.

“Speaking generally, people who are committing violent crimes, people who are targeted by these sentence enhancements, don’t just specialize in violent crimes,” Novak said. “The people targeted for these sentence enhancements typically have an extensive property crime background, in addition to drugs and that type of thing.”

But focusing on known troublemakers and high-crime areas is neither new nor limited to Kansas City, Novak said.

In St. Louis, police stepped up patrols in high-crime neighborhoods and cracked down on outstanding warrants. Prosecutors there have pressed for sentences that keep repeat or career criminals behind bars longer. The city saw a sharp decline in the last few years, and in 2003 had its fewest homicides since 1962. In 2003 the city had 69 murders, down from 113 the year before.

In Kansas City, Ortega wouldn’t say how many arrests had been made under the new strategy, citing its “covert” nature.

“We’re targeting the right people,” he said. “We’ve noticed already in the last two weeks in that particular area we’re looking at (the East Patrol Division) crime has dropped.”

Alvin Brooks, Kansas City’s mayor pro tem and the interim president of the community group Move UP, said he has noticed a drop in crime in the last few years.

Brooks credited the decline to better cooperation between community groups, law enforcement, and the criminal justice system – but said much still remains to be done.

“We’ve got to make sure that the police feel a part of the community and that the community feels a part of the people they serve,” Brooks said.

Categories: Crime

Comments

1 Comment so far

Ms Cofield on July 15, 2006 2:41 pm
what was the name of the 80th homicide in kcmo and the article?