What is the root cause of Kansas City crime, and what can be done to stop the violent trend?  Since 1990 I have lived and worked in Kansas City, in that time I have been the victim of numerous crimes. The odd thing is the perpetrators of these crimes never went to jail! Arson, burglary, theft, forgery, etc.

That is the underlying cause of Kansas Cities' violent crime spree. Having worked in the suburbs and also in the inner city, I see that most residents in the suburban neighborhoods have a cavalier attitude toward crime, that stuff happens to other people... I live in a "nice Neighborhood". The scary truth is you are anything but safe. Criminals have cars, what's more, criminals steal cars, and they can come visit your neighborhood anytime they wish. 

I bet you think that if a criminal gets caught in a stolen car he will go to jail! Wrong! A criminal driving a stolen car... your stolen car, will be charged with auto tampering. That is the same charge I would get if I keyed your new paint job. You see the criminals know all they have to do is say I didn't steal it, some guy let me drive it.

The same applies to most other crime in Kansas City. I have had drug dealers arrested inside a vacant apartment that they had broken into to sell crack cocaine out of. During the arrest they were found to have huge quantities of drugs and drug paraphernalia. They were not charged with drug dealing, not breaking and entering, not possession of a controlled substance, not even disorderly conduct. No! They were charged with trespassing! That's right, trespassing. 

Every crack head and crack dealer I have had arrested in the past decade or more has been charged with trespassing. The most common sentence for this offense was a 30 day SIS. SIS is suspended imposition of sentence. They never went to jail! But wait there is more! If they are a resident in one of my properties, they can not even be charged with that because they live there.

Why? You ask, because if they had to jail all the crack dealers, pimps, prostitutes, crack-heads, car thieves, burglars and shoplifters there would be no room for people like you for not mowing your yard or driving while drunk! You see they have to pay to keep those people locked up. They simply do not have the jail space. But you! You see, you will pay if you get fined for not mowing your grass. You will pay if you want to get your license back. You will pay if you drive 37 in a 25.

It's all about revenue; Jackson County and Kansas City don't want to pay for it. If the crack dealer doesn't go to jail for his crimes, and the thief doesn't go to jail for his crimes then he just graduates to a higher level of criminal activity until finally he kills someone and the State has to house him and feed him.

We need Jails and Cops not arenas and arts. It is no longer just revenue it's lives at stake here. Tell your elected officials we want more jail space!

Kansas City Crime Blog This is a blog I created because the filtered version of the news at Crime Scene KC is just not doing it anymore.

Kansas City continues to make the most dangerous cities in the nation as reported by MorganQuinto

KC made 16th most dangerous but the numbers are skewed! A wide variety of crimes go unreported. Most calls for service by the P.D. never even hit paper. The Police are far to busy to fill out a report for every call they make.

Kansas City has a huge epidemic of property crimes but most never get reported. Why? If I call in and report that your copper plumbing or air conditioner was stolen nothing will happen, nothing good anyway. 

Your insurance will likely not pay, because the house was vacant.

Your premiums will increase or your insurance will be cancelled.

Your deductbale is higher than the damage.

The Police will not investigate, the prosecutors will not prosecute.

Your property values will decline because of the increase in reported crime.

Crime is absolutely out of control in KC and no-one wants to address it. Instead our new mayor wants to punish landlords. Funkhouser has proposed landlord licensing. While the thugs are steailing our HVAC systems and our plumbing Mark Funkhouser thinks we should impose yet another tax on landlords.

City Ratings

KCPD has crime maps and crime statistics on it's web site. If you are thinking of buying a property in KC... Please view the crime maps!

Here's a newer map showing crime in KC http://crime.kansascity.com/

Update, 2007 Sanders, Graves seek regional jail By KEVIN MURPHY The Kansas City StarJackson County should explore building a regional jail for inmates of the county and its municipalities, County Executive Mike Sanders said Monday.

Sanders and U.S. Rep. Sam Graves toured the Jackson County Detention Center in downtown Kansas City, which Sanders said is often stretched to capacity.

Sanders proposed a jail with up to 2,500 beds. He said it also could be used to house some prisoners of Kansas City and other cities in the county that now have crowded jails.

“Clearly, lack of needed inmate space is one of the major public safety issues this community faces every day,” Sanders said.

Sanders said the county could seek federal grants for the project and could also house federal prisoners on a reimbursable basis. The county would continue to operate the downtown jail, Sanders said.

Graves, a Republican representing northwest Missouri and part of Jackson County, said he would help in the effort to find some money to move forward on a regional jail.

“It’s something we have all been throwing around for many years now,” Graves said.

Sanders said there are several potential locations, though he would not be more specific. He did not estimate the cost of a new jail but said he would not want to raise taxes to build it. Sanders said revenue bonds, paid off with income the county gets from cities and the federal government, could help pay for the project.

Finally, there is at least talk of doing something! No doubt Kay Barnes will try to take credit for it. This would be the first positive thing Sanders has been involved in yet. I have many police officer friends and frankly, I do not know how they stand to do their job. Arresting the same people every night to see them released the same day has to be frustrating.