KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.
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At Tuesday’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting, Kansas City leadership laid out plans to address a rash of smash-and-grab burglaries targeting businesses in 2024, which popped up again over the weekend.
Deputy Chief Joe Mabin said the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department will launch a new squad focused on the break-ins on Sunday, Jan. 19. A group of seven people will work mostly late-night shifts and target “hot spots.”
At the meeting, Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson said she plans to expand a partnership program that connects business groups with police officers and prosecutors.
“We’ll be adding new districts based on crime hot spot data to make sure we’re covering hot spots throughout the city,” Johnson said.
The program places an assistant prosecutor with a neighborhood group. The organization Midtown KC Now is the first group to join the partnership.
Executive Director Kevin Klinkenberg said Midtown KC Now can help prosecutors and police identify prolific offenders and protect businesses.
“So far it’s been great,” Klinkenberg said. “Been a lot of really good collaboration and creative thinking about how we can address our routine problems. To this point, we’re ecstatic with that collaboration and look forward to it continuing.”
Johnson said the Downtown Business Council is the next group she hopes to work with.
Investigators told commissioners Tuesday they’re building a case against a person they suspect is responsible for 19 different burglaries from 2022 to 2024. The person is currently in custody in Kansas.
“We want to make sure people know they are heard,” said KCPD Chief Stacey Graves. “We also want to make sure if there is a pattern or some type of criminal activity having an uptick in an area, we want to make sure we’re preventing it and responding to that need.”
Graves pointed out property crime statistics in 2024 were down from 2023. Mayor Quinton Lucas said perception is a different story.
“No amount of crime is acceptable to us,” Lucas said. “Just because you may not see a press conference right after something doesn’t mean there aren’t hundreds of people at work making sure the city is safe.”
Since break-ins started rising to the surface in 2024, Graves said the department has made several changes:
- Reassigned officers to the Central Patrol Division, where the break-ins are most prevalent;
- Re-established the downtown foot beat;
- Kept officers in entertainment districts throughout the winter instead of shifting hours after the summer like usual;
- Provided audits to business owners to identify weak areas in their security.
The city established the Back to Business Fund to help impacted businesses bounce back.
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If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
