Police announce changes to combat violent crime

PRESS RELEASE:

The Kansas City Missouri Police Department has made numerous changes recently to combat violent crime.

Chief Darryl Forté has moved more than 40 people from units across the department into the Violent Crimes Division to reduce violent crime and hold accountable those who perpetrate it. The changes are designed to build community relationships, provide more intelligence and information about those who commit violent crimes, increase the arrest and prosecution of prolific criminals, predict and prevent violent crime, and increase departmental communication and efficiency.

The Kansas City No Violence Alliance (KC NoVA), which also recently moved under the Violent Crimes Division, is working with patrol officers and detectives from throughout the department to ramp up its efforts to identify criminals and the groups or gangs with which they associate. Quarterly, NoVA calls in members of these groups and notifies them that if a violent act takes place among their associates, the full force of law enforcement will be on the members of their group. At their last quarterly meeting, police identified several hundred people involved in violent criminal activity in more than 35 groups.

Chief Forté has assigned 28 uniformed personnel to the Violent Crime Enforcement Unit (formerly known as the Area Command Unit), another new part of the Violent Crimes Division. This is the first time in memory such a large contingent of uniformed personnel has been moved to combat violent crime in an investigative element. This unit serves as the Violent Crime Division’s enforcement arm. Should an act of violence take place involving one of the identified groups, Violent Crime Enforcement Unit officers will enhance their enforcement activities against that group’s members with everything from minor ordinance violations to federal cases. This already took place in the first quarter of 2014 when a homicide occurred within one of the identified criminal groups. Violent Crime Enforcement Unit officers, along with the Narcotics and Vice Division and their federal partners, effectively dismantled the group by arresting its members on multiple federal firearms and narcotics trafficking charges.

The Fugitive Apprehension and Arraignment Unit also moved under the Violent Crimes Enforcement Unit so all elements tracking down violent criminals will be in the same chain of command.

A new Violent Crime Administrative Squad within the Enforcement Unit will handle the majority of federal cases regarding felons in possession of firearms and other weapons violations. The Robbery Unit previously handled those cases. This will lighten the Robbery Unit’s caseload, allowing for more thorough robbery investigations. Likewise, detectives on the Administrative Squad will be able to dig deeper into federal firearm violation cases to uncover possible trafficking rings and the violent crime that surrounds them.

On the advice of experts in academia and law enforcement, Chief Forté and Violent Crimes Division Major Ronald Fletcher also have created a Violent Crimes Intelligence Squad. Incorporating experienced gang, homicide and narcotics detectives, this group will work openly (not under-cover) to gather information from the community and patrol officers about gang/group feuds, retaliations and trends. With the help of the Law Enforcement Resource Center, this information will be analyzed and distributed department-wide from homicide detectives to street-level officers. The goal is to prevent violent crimes among gangs and groups before it takes place.

KC NoVA also has provided numerous social services to those who seek a way out of the criminal lifestyle. The people with whom they’ve worked have been identified as being 100 times more likely to be a murder victim than the average Kansas City resident. KC NoVA’s Social Services component has assessed 98 clients as of March 21, 2014. In partnership with numerous community resources, they have provided 29 clients with substance abuse treatment, 18 with employment assistance, 14 with housing services and many others with services ranging from anger management courses to mental health treatment. Many clients cannot read or write, and 10 have received literacy and education assistance.

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Area Command initiative

Last year, I assigned now-retired Deputy Chief Kevin Masters to look at our department’s deployment to determine the best way to combat violent crime. He created a proposal that we modified to best meet the department’s and city’s needs. This resulted in the creation of the Area Command concept. One small group of officers started employing this idea a few weeks ago in the East Patrol Division. The below article in this month’s Informant newsletter explains more about that initial piece and what we hope the future of Area Command will be.


A new initiative will target violent crime in the city’s worst-hit areas with an added boost to speed up prosecution.

Chief Darryl Forté approved an East Patrol Division pilot program called the Area Command Unit (ACU).

“The ACU will attack violent crime while simultaneously building and maintaining positive community relations,” according to a January 14 department memo. “The ACU will rely on real-time data from several sources and will partner with Kansas City No Violence Alliance (KC NoVA) and the Law Enforcement Resource Center (LERC).”

Captain Todd Paulson of the East Patrol Division currently is commanding the EPD evening shift and the Area Command pilot program. He will transfer just to ACU soon.

“The unit will work closely with other units on the department, as well as city and county services such as city codes and Jackson County COMBAT,” Captain Paulson said.

The pilot unit is made up of a sergeant, five officers and a detective.

“It’s nice because we have officers who have come from different areas and with a whole lot of different experiences,” said Officer Bryan Britten of the East Patrol Division.

Having a detective assigned directly to a patrol support element is unique, as well.

“This allows the unit to file its own cases and apply for search warrants and to speed up the prosecution process to make a quicker impact on improving neighborhoods,” Paulson said.

He said the officers will be active in self-initiated activity with a good knowledge of the people involved in violent crime.

“They need to be self-motivated, hard-working and be able to interact with the community in a positive way,” Paulson said.

Unlike regular patrol officers, ACU officers will not focus on calls for service, but will work specific targets within the entire division that are involved in violent crime.

The Area Command pilot program shifts start between 2 and 4 p.m., 7 days a week.

“The units will be able to move and address violent crime issues in other divisions should the need arise,” said Paulson.

ACU has several aims.

“Our main goal is to get as many guns off the streets as we can,” Officer Britten said.

Captain Paulson said ACU also wants to reduce violent crime while partnering with the community to accomplish it.

“By focusing on and prosecuting those directly involved in violent crime, we will be able to interrupt the criminal networks in the city,” he said.

The Area Command pilot program already is proving to be a success. Just in January, they recovered: 11 guns, three stolen vehicles, 19 grams of cocaine, 56 grams of meth, 534 grams of marijuana, 12 ounces of PCP and $3,032 in cash. ACU will grow to encompass the other inner-city patrol divisions.

“The overall unit is already expanding to the Central and Metro Patrol Divisions, hopefully by the end of February, and will consist of a captain, four sergeants, 18 officers and three detectives,” Paulson said. “Each unit will be housed at its respective division station to stay responsive to the needs of each station and to be able to interact and pass on information to the officers in those divisions.”

The Area Command initiative is approved for one year, and at the end of the year, it will be fully evaluated and recommendations will be made at that time to dissolve or expand the unit, according to the Jan. 14 memo.

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