First, I’d like to thank everyone in Kansas City who have been adhering to the stay-at-home order. We’re finding that the vast majority of people are abiding by it, which should help us flatten the curve and defeat this pandemic more quickly. It’s also helping keep us – your first responders – healthy and able to serve.
We need officers out on the street because violent crime here has not changed much with social distancing measures or the stay-at-home order. In the two weeks before the stay-at-home order, March 10-13, we had six homicides. We’ve had seven homicides in the two weeks since, March 24-April 6. Aggravated assaults increased from 61 in the two weeks before the order to 68 in the two weeks after the order.
As many expected, domestic violence assaults have increased a bit. If you are in an unsafe situation at home, please call 816-HOTLINE, which will connect you to domestic violence advocates in the Kansas City area. Domestic violence shelters and prevention agencies are still operating and providing services.
Below is a chart showing some major categories of violent crime in Kansas City so far this year and how the numbers have changed as COVID-19 spread and residents started staying home.
By contrast, many of our property crimes have fallen off. We attribute this to more people at home keeping an eye on their belongings all day. We’ve seen the largest decreases in crime in the categories of thefts from vehicles, stolen cars and shoplifting (mainly because most retailers are closed). Here is the chart showing our property crime trends for the first three months of 2020:
Overall, our calls for service have seen little change.
Below are March numbers from last year compared to this year:
March
2019
|
March
2020
|
Difference
|
|
Calls
received
|
78,399
|
77,128
|
-2%
|
The main goal of police is to keep you safe, which is why were are focusing our traffic enforcement efforts on reducing the excessive speed that has arisen with fewer cars on the road. Traffic officers are saying speeds are much higher than normal. They issued some of the following tickets last week:
* 123 mph in a 65 at 435/Wornall
* 79 in a 35 on Independence Ave.
* 76 in a 45 on Chouteau Bridge
* 133 in a 55 on I-29/Waukomis
* 86 in a 55 on 71 Hwy/31st St.
Again, this is why you'll still see us enforcing speed limits. From March 16-30, our injury crashes were up by 43% compared to the same time period last year. Officers are doing everything possible to reduce contact on these stops and are sanitizing before and after each one, as well as wearing masks.
I have no doubt this pandemic will continue to reshape our city in the short and long term, but looking at the numbers, the workload of police in Kansas City has remained pretty consistent. No matter what happens, KCPD will continue to respond to community needs.
Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.
