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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Residents from the Waldo and Brookside neighborhoods packed an auditorium Wednesday afternoon at Research Medical Center's Brookside campus to discuss ongoing crime issues.
The event was put on by the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department's Metro Patrol Division, Metro Patrol Division's Property Crimes Unit, representatives from the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office and Brookside/Waldo Community Improvement district managers.
The panel focused on providing updates about recent crimes committed by juveniles and young adults.
Panel speakers engaged with the audience, including a question on how many people had an incident where they had to call 911.
Raised hands nearly filled the room.
When the panelists asked how many sense there’s been a shift, with more incidents in the last year or two, nearly as many hands were raised in agreement.
Brookside resident
John, a Brookside resident, spoke with KSHB 41 Reporter Megan Abundis before the meeting.
He shared issues with crime his family has been dealing with recently.
John said his family had a car stolen last week out of City Gym's parking lot.
Thanks to an Apple AirTag, the family was able to track the car and get it back.
The thieves left the vehicle "all torn up," John said.
He also noted it took several minutes for police officers to respond.
About six months before the family's car was stolen, his son’s car was involved in a hit-and-run accident.
Video footage showed a U-Haul truck hit not only his son’s car, but another vehicle before leaving the scene.
Authorities told him there wasn’t enough evidence to file a report.
“I feel the police are … overworked," he said. "They don’t have enough people. It’s not their fault."
He said he feels his tax dollars are not necessarily being prioritized.
“We’re not getting the service that we should get,” John said.
John was hopeful something would come from the meeting to find a solution.
Data
A Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department spokesperson said data from Brookside and Waldo confirms there has been a significant amount of crime in recent months.
"The main takeaway is that in 2023 and in 2024, we have had higher incident count in stolen autos, and we have had a spike of stolen autos in the last few months specifically,” said BJ Kidd, a KCPD crime analyst.
Stolen vehicles make up the largest number of property crimes in the metro area, according to the police department.
“Last year in particular, 2023, had a very large spike in stolen autos across the metro, which is consistent with city-wide trends,” Kidd said.
Captain Justin Pinkerton, with KCPD recruiting, said the police department needs more officers.
The department has less than 1,150 sworn officers.
“The takeaway is that low workforce, it’s going to attract crime,” Pinkerton said. “But we are not willing to sacrifice quality. Our civilian staff has also taken a hit. We have really high 911 rates. "We’re not saying that’s acceptable, but this amount of people can only handle so much. We are down on everything, but we are doing the absolute best we can with the limited staff we have.”
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said the thought is more juveniles are engaged in crime and more juveniles are engaged in violent crime.
KCPD Sgt. Michael Vulje said they recognize there is a specific issue with a certain group committing crimes in the area.
“I see the rising trend with these young gentlemen who are doing it,” Sgt. Vulje said. “Since getting all of this, we have identified the group who’s doing this. They are not in custody. They are all juveniles. We know who they are, where they are, and where they live.”
Sgt. Vulje said they have reached out to the juvenile's mothers to offer services.
“Their moms have not taken any initiative to receive the resources,” Sgt. Vuljie said.
He said they have moved two detectives to the Waldo and Brookside areas to work personal property crimes for the next six months.
“As soon as the cases come in, they are submitting the results and moving the cases along,” Sgt. Vulje said. “As long as we have a problem in this area, the detectives will be in this area.”
He made a point to tell the crowd not to engage with the specific group, but look for tattoos or scars to help identify them.
Kidd spoke about the motivation of juveniles committing crimes.
“One of the things you have to think about is what’s driving their motivations to commit the crime?” she said. “Is it a fact that many of these juvenile offenders are committing crimes because they don’t have a safe environment? Yes, but is offering them a safe environment that we think is fun and attractive actually going to drive them away from a life of crime?”
She said the juveniles are very group-oriented.
“This Kia stealing trend has been popularized, it’s the hip thing to do," Kidd said. "They are not always necessarily motivated strictly by money or drugs, although they are factors. But it is a cool thing to post a social media video with all your weapons, bragging about how many shootings you’ve been in while driving a stolen car at a high speed. “It’s an interconnected network. The mindset is that they don’t always get into it thinking they want to be a ‘Top Kia Boy,’ but they may know someone who is stealing cars and they get connected to the group and all of a sudden ‘you have to have a gun because you’re going to get shot at. They are escalating very quickly.”
Kidd said another question is what can be done to get them away from a lifestyle that looks really great? She said that’s a big question they wouldn't be able to solve in one day.
“It helps if you keep reporting crime that happens to you,” said Peters Baker said.
KCPD officers said they are trying to be more innovative when it comes to crime fighting, including the addition of ATV's.
“There are officers out in your neighborhood patrolling,” one KCPD officer said. “The car prowler calls help, even if it’s a call that comes in and is held for a certain period of time. We might get there after the person leaves, but it gives me a benchmark of when people are coming into your neighborhoods, and what kind of car they are driving."
The crowd asked about prosecution in recent cases.
Peters Baker said problem-solving included talking with KCPD Police Chief Stacey Graves about making a plan to address Kia thefts.
“Level set, I can only file a case that I actually get solved by police,” Peters Baker said. “Just because a case is unsolved doesn’t mean the police aren’t working on the case.”
Peters-Baker also spoke about the current and future county jail.
“We have a functioning jail at the county level," she said. "We are in the process of building a new jail and I advocated for more beds. About a 1,000-person jail will be built in a handful of years.”
She said the current county jail holds 600-700 people.
Dan Barry, an attorney at Jackson County Family Court, also took questions about their office prosecutes cases.
“The primary differences between the juvenile and adult system is that juvenile is treatment-oriented and there is no jury,” Barry said. “This morning, I filed five or six stolen auto cases myself. We move those as quickly as we can.”
Officer Mark Knobe, a member of the Crisis Intervention Team Unit, addressed homeless issues in the neighborhoods.
“We work with people who have mental health issues,” Knobe said. “I get 12 hours a month to work these calls. Last year, we got 5,200 mental health reports. Our unit did about 3,200 follow-ups on those calls and were able to get people connected, but obviously some people don’t want treatment.”
He also spoke out on homeless outreach in the neighborhoods.
“I go out with a member of the fire department," Knobe said. "We usually have someone from a local shelter that goes with us. Also a mental health component will go out with us. We go into the camps and engage those individuals to see where they are at and what they need. Personally, I feel we need a low-barrier shelter somewhere in the city. It would be a big help to our city.”
The crowd asked what can be done about people who are loitering or defecating in the area.
“The main thing is call us, report it, we can arrest them,” Knobe said. “The main thing is the space in our city jail. We keep violent offenders, we are not keeping the trespassing charges long-term in jail. They will get signature bonded out pretty quickly.”
Officers offered tips to the crowd to help prevent crimes:
1. Don’t leave your car running.
2. Don’t leave your doors unlocked.
3. Call 311 if your street lights are out or if you think they are too dim.
4. Don’t leave valuables in your car
5. Invest in high resolution surveillance cameras
The panel agreed the crime problem is an ongoing conversation.
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