KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. Share your story idea with Megan.
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So far in 2024, homicides are down in Kansas City, Missouri, compared to recent years when the city experienced record-breaking violence.
This year, there have been 111 lives lost to violence.
KSHB 41's Megan Abundis spoke with a 22-year veteran of the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, who talked about the trend of the city's most recent crime and what hinders their policing.
"We have seen a decrease in violent crime, which is what we set out to do, but anytime you divert resources to handle a specific issue, other things that you maybe haven’t thought of start to rear their ugly head," said Sgt. Chris Toigo, with the KCPD Homicide Unit.
Toigo says property crimes similar to recent incidents in KCMO's Brookside and Waldo neighborhoods are increasing.
He said the department has seen property crimes turn violent, too.
Prior to working in KCPD's Homicide Unit, Toigo started as a civilian officer.
He also has experience as a supervisor in the missing persons, assault, and violent crime squads.
Toigo says there's a trend of KCPD investigating juveniles in violent crime cases.
"We see a trend that the offenders are getting younger and younger," he said.
Toigo said he's investigated kids for violent offenses as young as nine years old, but it’s the lack of parent accountability that makes it even harder.
"Right now, my team has several cases with 14, 15, and 16-year-olds, and that’s problematic," he said. "It’s very problematic when we try and reach out to the parents and get their cooperation, and for lack of a better word, we are stonewalled. We are learning they aren’t going to school; there’s no accountability there. The family home is broken; there’s no accountability there as well, so they lean into their circle of friends."
He says that can lead to crime, like engaging in social media trends of stealing cars, looking for guns in them, and then using the guns.
“For my unit, we are working more closely with the property crime units; I think you’ll see more of a team environment where we are sharing more closely the intel," he said. "We’ve always done this, but now with this trend of juveniles and property crimes spiking, I think it’s just put more of a focus on making sure we are communicating effectively with all our teams across the board."
He continued, "We can’t do this job alone."
Toigo pointed to a community engagement initiative called DICE, or Data informed community engagement.
He sees it as a way to give neighbors a voice on how law enforcement police the areas.
"Focused deterrence is addressing the issues at hand," he said. "People deserve to wake up and not be in fear of having their property broken into and being stolen. We were so focused on violent crime; that’s something that all of us and the chief have been focused on; it diverts resources from other areas, and we are also short officers."
He does attribute the lower homicide number to KCPD Chief Stacey Graves's vision and the department's support staff.
"By the chief giving us an analyst for each squad, it allows my detective to have a boots-on-the-ground approach," he said. "I think you can attribute the decrease to the men and women who show up day in and day out."
Toigo also spoke about the current 18-cell city jail space.
"Catch and release, 'cause that’s what it is," he said.
The ability or inability to lock people up for municipal offenses is something Toigo sees as the first phase of consequence after an arrest.
"Bad guys are smart. Criminals are smart — they know there’s no accountability," he said. "We have to have a city jail; we have to show them there are consequences when you break the law and commit violence."
He says officers are transporting arrestees, but it’s cell-space dependent.
"Sometimes to defuse the situation, they will drive them, transport them to 75th and Prospect to the holding facility at metro patrol for booking, but [they] are out within a few hours," he said.
“Officers are taking reports, enforcing ordinances making arrests, holding people accountable but, you just imagine doing your job for a moment and as soon as you complete a task it almost feels like for nothing,” he said. “For the men and women of this organization, it's very demoralizing but they continue to show up.”
KCPD Capt. Jacob Becchina, a spokesperson for the department, explained that before 2015 with unlimited jail capability space, when someone would be arrested, they’d be booked in, assigned a bond, either pay the bond or be taken to headquarters, and the following day a judge would "release someone on their own recognizance" or they would be transported to the city’s municipal farm in the Leeds neighborhood until their court date in about 45 days.
"However, now, the only capability to maintain someone in municipal custody is a transport to Vernon or Johnson County," Becchina said. "Our only line is the 18 spots we have, so if they are full, they are released on a signature bond."
Becchina said depending on the municipal-level offense, they are not to be taken to jail.
"It depends on the circumstances, or the days, or if it's empty," Becchina said.
Toigo and Becchina made a point to say they are not for mass incarceration, however they often find when they arrest people, they've just been cited for other various offenses.
"And no one is surprised by that anymore," Toigo said. "Logistically, not having a city jail is a nightmare."
Toigo said the community has just as big of a role in solving crime as police do.
"I would just stress we can't do this job without the community — they need to speak up, demand better of the city officials, the court system; nobody in KC deserves to be a victim of a crime," he said.
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