One of the things discussed at Wednesday's public safety meeting was 2016 homicide data.
A snapshot shows there were 127 homicides in Kansas City in 2016, and 50 percent of those were cleared or solved. Guns were the murder weapons in most of those incidents.
Sgt. Jonas Baughman from the intelligence unit said 60 percent of those murders happened in groups. They said the percentage has gone down since 2013, when it was 67 percent.
Last year the most significant contributing factors to murder were arguments, domestic violence, drug-related incidents and robberies.
Police from the LERC, or Law Enforcement Resource Center, also noticed an age trend with older victims. The 50 and older age category saw ten more victims than the year before. The 30 to 39 age category had eight more killings. The sergeant said nothing stood out as a contributing factor so far.
The meeting also focused on the victim services unit, which works with people affected by crime. Within 72 hours they try to make contact with the victim and address five main issues: food, clothing, shelter, mental health and loss of property.
KCPD does not pay for these things to be replaced, but those needs are met through city partners. The goal is for victims who have experienced trauma to get back to their normal lives.
"When you have a gun stuck in your face, it's hard to go to work the next day. When you have a gun stuck in your face and you lost your utility money, not only is it hard to go to work now you can't pay your bills," explained Sgt. Darrel Rocker.
Rocker said in 27 years on the police force, his time spent in victim services was the most rewarding.
The unit was started in KC in 2013 as part of Chief Darryl Forte's vision to make Kansas City better.
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Belinda Post can be reached at belinda.post@kshb.com.
