Crime, Although Down, Took No Holiday In Midtown
In the aftermath of media coverage of robbery-homicide victim Kevin Beaver plus a spate of residential burglaries during December 2009, Master Patrol Officer James Schriever from Central Patrol Division (CPD) had an attentive audience at the January 14 VNA meeting. The meeting took place in the administrative/conference annex of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Bell Street at Westport Road.
Compared with 2008, Schriever said that crime overall in his division during 2009 was down. That included property crimes. But the officer’s next words gave notice that reduction in overall crime rates does not mean that we all can relax. One reason is that Central Patrol, whose boundaries run from the Missouri River south to Brush Creek and from the State Line east to Prospect Avenue, contains several entertainment and restaurant districts that attract large numbers of people. “Within the Power & Light District, Westport and the [Country Club] Plaza , the population can quadruple between 7:00 PM and Midnight,” Schriever said. This population overload in turn can seriously impact response time. Schriever cited 820 service calls to one address on Armour Boulevard in one evening as an example.
A type of crime that always increases during holidays is automobile break-ins, when shoppers leave parcels, some of them appealingly gift wrapped, present an attractive target for thieves. But in addition to merchandise, there is another motive criminals have begun pursuing—‘phishing’ for data that can lead to even more rewards. Global Position System (GPS) devices play a key role in these activities (see related sidebar).
Responding to questions about the amount of graffiti visible in midtown and possible connections with gangs, Schriever noted that muggings in south Volker are an indication that gangs are moving away from the drug trade to robbery because robbery is more profitable. Take photos of graffiti and e-mail them to James.Schriever@kcpd.org for analysis of possible gang connections. He also underlined the importance of eliminating signs of neglect and apathy that encourage criminals to move into an area. In this respect police officers can be important allies, as they were when as a result of their efforts cleaning up graffiti and removing 70,000 pounds of debris in the West Bottoms, stealing declined 40% and auto theft 80%. Other participants in the clean-up were Missouri Department of Transportation MODoT) personnel and “volunteers” working off community service sentences.
Groups like Volker and other neighborhood associations in midtown Kansas City are a valuable resource in community policing, according to Schriever. “The greatness of the neighborhood associations—West Plaza, Volker and others—is the closeness that comes from people watching out for each other,” he said.
