‘Small group of people committing large amount of crime’: Uptick in property crime leads to violent crime
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department continues its work to combat property and violent crimes impacting people’s safety.
KD Chief Stacey Graves said they are working with the juvenile court system in hopes of reaching kids before they veer into that lifestyle.
She said they have caught juveniles in the act of a property crime but they are equipped with guns, some being assault rifles.
“When you look at some of their arrests where seemingly we could have caught them at maybe a lower offense and course-corrected the trajectory of where they are headed,” she said. “We are looking at that, we’re having conversations to make sure we provide all information, we do everything that we can, within our control to make sure that not only are juveniles held able but that we are also providing the best case file for a successful prosecution.”
People, especially those living and working in Brookside and Waldo neighborhoods now, want change quickly.
RELATED: Brookside and Waldo residents express concern, frustrations on crime
“We are part of the solution but I think we all know it’s going to take a collective, that city-wide approach, and so we are staying on that mission and making sure that we are doing everything we can within our control,” said Graves.
KD Deputy Chief Doug Niemeier said there is an uptick of people committing property crimes that turn into a violent crime when they’re caught in the act.
Niemeier compared this property crime situation to that of the Dodge Challenger thefts when many were being stolen in downtown Kansas City.
RELATED: Caught on camera: Waldo car break-in turns into shots fired
“We have a small group of people committing a large amount of crime. Hopefully, when we arrest them, and we are going to arrest them, it will stop,” he said.
Suggestions from KD about how to stay safer include security cameras like Ring doorbells, placing an Apple Airtag-like device in your car, and taking all items out of the car.
As for kids returning to school, Niemeier said that can help decrease some crime in the city but the level of property crime they are experiencing is that of young adults.
“In the crimes that we’re talking about being committed with things that were happening downtown, things happening in the metro patrol division -- these are young adults,” said Niemeier.
He said he spent about an hour with Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters-Baker about it and he claims she encouraged him to reach out immediately if they do find any adults involved to mitigate the chances it happens again.
“There is movement on this that people do not see or don’t know but we’ve been working on it and I think we’re making progress,” said Niemeier. “I’m hopefully that when we make these arrests that we see a drastic drop in that area.”
He continued saying that there will also be property crime in nature but want to see it go down.
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