We will implement our Plaza patrol plan this weekend to ensure everyone can safely enjoy the city’s most venerable entertainment and retail district.
The past two years, as the weather warmed up, hundreds of youth congregated on the Country Club Plaza. The crowds sometimes broke out into violence and intimidated Plaza visitors. We will not tolerate this. We will arrest juveniles for any criminal offenses and curfew violations.
We will have additional officers on the Plaza this weekend and every weekend through the fall. Most of these officers are on special over-time assignments, so police presence in the rest of the city will not be affected. Plaza management also is hiring additional off-duty KCPD officers and augmenting their private security. Mounted Patrol officers will be present on horseback. They have proved to be highly effective at crowd control. Officers on ATVs and a Tactical Team also will have a presence. Plain-clothes, under-cover officers also will be out, looking for signs of trouble.
A separate detention area for juveniles who are arrested will be set up and operated in a police facility.
At present, the curfew is 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends for anyone younger than 18. Those will become earlier in the summer: the Friday before Memorial Day through the last Sunday in September. In entertainment districts like the Plaza, the curfew will be 9 p.m. in the summer. In the rest of the city, the curfew will be 10 p.m. for those 15 and younger, and 11 p.m. for 16-and 17-year-olds. Parents will be issued citations for the curfew violations of their children.
We have sent letters to area schools asking them to remind parents that they are responsible for their children’s actions. Parents need to know their children’s friends and the parents of their friends. They need to know where their children are and what they are doing. They need to be monitoring their children’s social networks.
We ask parents, teachers and even young people to alert police if they hear about a large gathering being planned. Police will be monitoring social networks, as well.
Ultimately, youth congregating into unruly crowds in entertainment districts isn’t a police issue. It is a parenting and community issue. So we ask for the cooperation of parents and the community to make these entertainment districts the enjoyable places they were intended to be.
Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.
Showing posts with label crowd control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crowd control. Show all posts
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Monday, April 11, 2011
Community, parents must work together to avoid another "Plaza mob" incident
As the weather warms, the problem of big groups of juveniles gathering on the Country Club Plaza is coming forth again. This past weekend, there were large numbers of young people dropped off at the Cinemark movie theater, but they didn’t go in. They simply congregated and loitered. Fortunately, there also was a large police presence, and no incidents were reported. However, we want to avoid what happened this time last year.
As you may recall, last year hundreds of juveniles gathered on the Plaza and intimidated patrons, nearly shut down several businesses and erupted in violence.
Following that incident, police enacted a crowd control plan and convened a youth summit with urban-core teens and city leaders. They met at Police Headquarters. This summit sought to identify why young people gathered at the Plaza, why they became unruly and what alternative activities they could engage in. The findings were turned over to the City’s youth advocate, and a City Council member agreed to spearhead the project. But little has been done since last year to provide an alternative for these young people.
The issue is rearing its head again, however, and many are coming to police looking for answers. But this is not a police issue. It is a community issue and a parenting issue. The mission of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, in partnership with the community, is to protect life and property while reducing fear and disorder. It is not to sponsor activities for youth or ensure parents are supervising them properly. At about this time last year, we sent out a plea to parents reminding them of curfew laws and making them aware that we would be enforcing them. We also asked them not to just drop off their children and leave. A police officer and theater manager even were passing out fliers this past weekend to parents dropping off their kids, informing them of when the theater closed and curfew information.
While this is not a police problem, we’d like to be part of the solution. The solution ultimately will involve many facets: concerned parents, youth advocates, ministers, educators and others who care about the future of youth in this city. Feel free to e-mail any ideas you have to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org or contact your elected officials.
As you may recall, last year hundreds of juveniles gathered on the Plaza and intimidated patrons, nearly shut down several businesses and erupted in violence.
Following that incident, police enacted a crowd control plan and convened a youth summit with urban-core teens and city leaders. They met at Police Headquarters. This summit sought to identify why young people gathered at the Plaza, why they became unruly and what alternative activities they could engage in. The findings were turned over to the City’s youth advocate, and a City Council member agreed to spearhead the project. But little has been done since last year to provide an alternative for these young people.
The issue is rearing its head again, however, and many are coming to police looking for answers. But this is not a police issue. It is a community issue and a parenting issue. The mission of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, in partnership with the community, is to protect life and property while reducing fear and disorder. It is not to sponsor activities for youth or ensure parents are supervising them properly. At about this time last year, we sent out a plea to parents reminding them of curfew laws and making them aware that we would be enforcing them. We also asked them not to just drop off their children and leave. A police officer and theater manager even were passing out fliers this past weekend to parents dropping off their kids, informing them of when the theater closed and curfew information.
While this is not a police problem, we’d like to be part of the solution. The solution ultimately will involve many facets: concerned parents, youth advocates, ministers, educators and others who care about the future of youth in this city. Feel free to e-mail any ideas you have to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org or contact your elected officials.
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