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Crime falls downtown and across much of Kansas City
By JEFFREY SPIVAK and CHRISTINE VENDELThe Kansas City Star
Everyone can see what’s happening downtown these days, with the new lofts, new arena and new entertainment district.
But there’s something else monumental worth noting — downtown has experienced the largest decrease in crime in Kansas City so far this decade.
It is part of a trend of declining crime in the vast majority of Kansas City neighborhoods, according to a new analysis by The Kansas City Star and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Among Kansas City’s 240 designated neighborhoods, the Downtown Loop had the largest drop in total violent and property crime incidents from 2001 to 2006. The Crossroads area had the largest per-person drop in crime.
“That’s pretty significant. It’s another boost for downtown,” said Suzi Aron, who was president of the Crossroads Community Association during that period.
Kansas City police typically provide crime statistics on a citywide basis or sorted by the department’s six patrol divisions. However, UMKC’s Center for Economic Information has begun sorting the Police Department’s crime data by neighborhood, and The Star compared the neighborhood breakdowns this decade.
The neighborhood-level analysis offers an overview of where and how widespread crime has dropped from 2001 to 2006. The highlights:
•More than four-fifths of city neighborhoods — 83 percent — experienced a drop in total crimes, combining violent crimes and property crimes. Besides the Downtown Loop, other areas with a few hundred fewer incidents included Westport, Blue Hills and South Indian Mound in the Northeast area.
•In 15 percent of city neighborhoods, crime was cut by at least half, topped by an 83 percent plunge in Sterling Acres near Independence. Other big percentage declines occurred in the Ward Parkway-Brookside area and in the older Briarcliff section up north.
•Still, crime did increase at least 20 percent in 14 neighborhoods. Nearly half of those were in the Northland, including Davidson and Hill Haven in Clay County.
Police Chief Jim Corwin attributed the general decline in crime across the city to having 200 more officers over the last few years and a better deployment of resources, which consultant studies had recommended.
“A lot of the pieces are working together,” Corwin said. “We’re becoming more intelligence-based, focusing on problem solving and putting officers where we need to. We’re thinking smartly about how we deploy officers.”
In addition, from interviews with neighborhood leaders and police officers, The Star found a direct connection between crime declines and neighborhood vigilance. That vigilance takes different forms.
Take the Downtown Loop. Five years ago, the Downtown Council formed a community improvement district, which paid for yellow-jacketed “ambassadors” to roam the streets picking up trash and stopping panhandling, among other things. From 2003 to 2006, the ambassadors intervened in more than 21,000 suspected drug, drinking and trespassing activities, according to improvement district records.
Longtime residents such as Maryann Hammond have noticed the difference the ambassadors have made.
“It’s been incredible having them around,” said Hammond, an artist who walks to work every day between the Garment District and the government district. “You don’t feel threatened because you know there are some safety patrols there for you. It’s a lot, lot better.”
Most crime downtown involves vandalism, stealing and burglary. In the Loop, total crime incidents fell from 1,820 to 1,011 from 2001 to 2006. In the Crossroads, the crime rate has dropped from 3.6 per resident to 0.5.
Police say these declines are impressive, given downtown’s increasing population. More people usually lead to more crime, but organized neighborhood associations help because they form relationships with officers.
“The community is our best resource out there,” said Master Police Officer Jim Schriever, who works with the Crossroads organization. “They’re out there 24/7 and 365 days a year. They know what’s normal in their neighborhood and what’s not.”
Elsewhere in the city, successful neighborhood crime-fighting involves resources.
In the cases of Blue Hills and Ivanhoe on the East Side, those resources include fortitude. Strong neighborhood associations fighting housing blight and active coalitions of residents such as the 100 Men of Blue Hills have had an impact. Violent crime and property crimes in parts of Ivanhoe are down more 40 percent, and Blue Hills had the fifth-largest decrease in total crime.
In the case of the Ward Parkway-Brookside area, the resource is money. Neighborhoods and homes associations have hired off-duty police for extra daytime and holiday-time patrols. Places such as Romanelli West, Stratford Gardens and Brookside Park never had much crime to begin with but still lowered their rates more than 70 percent.
In the case of the Briarcliff-Claymont (not the posh Briarcliff West) neighborhood up north, the resource is computers. When a series of burglaries or thefts starts, the Police Department’s North Patrol Division notifies the Northland Community Alliance, a group of homes associations, and the alliance immediately sends an e-mail alert to homeowners.
Once, someone was stealing checks and bank statements from mailboxes, so the alliance suggested that homeowners stop putting up the red flag on their boxes to signal outgoing mail.
“We stopped it before it got too far,” said Ralph Scott, who was a longtime president of the alliance. “We stress that neighbors must watch out and protect their fellow neighbors. It’s paid off.”
Sometimes, though, swings in crime are just a matter of changing circumstances.
Consider the Sterling Acres neighborhood nestled between Independence and Raytown in far eastern Kansas City. In 2001, it was “the neighborhood of picking” for criminals hanging around the deteriorating Blue Ridge Mall. When the mall closed a few years later, crime in the area seemed to disappear, said police Officer Dave DeLaMare.
That was how Sterling Acres ended up leading the city in crime reduction, on a percentage basis, from 2001 to 2006.
But this year was different. A Wal-Mart opened on the site of the mall, which brought back traffic and, in some cases, trouble. Even the church where the neighborhood association holds its monthly meetings has been burglarized. And because of rising gas prices, neighborhood volunteers have stopped nightly street patrols.
“We’re getting a little lazy, I think,” said Bobbie Stackhouse, a member of the neighborhood board.
Changing circumstances also were behind some of the other crime increases across the city.
In growing Fairway Hills east of Raytown, its small amount of crime doubled as thieves took to stealing from construction sites. In Platte County’s Prairie Point-Wildberry, the Zona Rosa development opened within the neighborhood’s boundaries, resulting in a spike in stealing.
Then there are parts of town that are just plain unlucky.
Take the inner Northland neighborhoods south of Gladstone. Places like Davidson and Hill Haven experienced hefty hikes in crime, as several apartment complexes turned more problematic, police said. Yet in places like Antioch Acres, which borders Davidson, and Holiday Hills, which borders Hill Haven, crime was cut in half.
These types of swings may be expected as the inner Northland ages, said Jim Rice, the executive director of Northland Neighborhoods Inc.
“It’s a natural evolution we’re seeing up here, the whole urbanization process,” which includes more rental housing and even a smattering of drug houses, Rice said. “We’re not alarmed, but we are aware and watching it.”
To see the crime statistics for all 240 Kansas City neighborhoods — sorted by percentage change, per capita change and change in total crimes — go to KansasCity.com. The neighborhood names come from the city and, in some cases, are not the names of homes associations or subdivisions.