KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Even before Kansas City, Missouri, police officers found a 2-year-old boy dead inside a home in the 6500 block of The Paseo on Wednesday, they were familiar with the address.
Through a records request, KSHB 41 News learned that from April 2022 to this week, officers were called to the corner house 20 times
"As far as all these calls and the police activity, [it] got the neighborhood nervous," Robert Hickmon, a neighbor said.
Most of the calls are for disturbances and suspicious activity.
A log of the calls can be viewed below:
The log doesn’t include the time they were there for undercover operations.
Hickmon remembers when officers recovered three stolen U-hauls.
"And they tried to park there, and I told him, 'Hey, take it down the street'. They said it was legal. I said, 'No, you've been using that U-haul every day'. Nobody does that. And then they had a police chase go to that house," Hickmon said.
The increase in calls line up with what neighbors say was an influx of drug users coming in and going from the house.
"Because when I come out the door and we look and see all that trash and stuff, that's not us," Hickmon said. "That's the only house on the block that does."
According to property records, the house is a rental. Its last known tenant had a voucher from the housing authority, according to neighbors.
The Housing Authority said they can't get a hold of the tenant or the landlord.
"The tenant’s phone service has been disconnected and we have left messages for the landlord," Edwin Lowndes, the Housing Authority's executive director wrote in an e-mail to KSHB 41 News. "Our next steps relating to the landlord are to send official letters to them regarding this matter."
"It's a shame that that has to happen before somebody tightens up the cracks," Hickmon said.
With a child dying at the suspected drug house, Hickmon wants it cleaned up and cleared out.
Until then, he and his neighbors will continue to report anything out of the ordinary.
"It's all of us. And we all got to do our civic duties. And if we don't, there's no community, there's no neighborhood," he said.
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