Security checkpoints return to Kansas City’s Westport entertainment district
Westport’s weekend security screenings are returning with the crowds and warmer weather.
On Friday and Saturday nights between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. beginning this week, anyone coming into Westport’s entertainment district, known on weekend evenings as Westport Live, will again have to go through a safety scan for weapons.
The screening includes five checkpoints around the perimeter of the 10-block pedestrian-only area, and will likely stick around through October, according to a Westport news release.
At the screening, people will be asked to empty their pockets, open their purses or bags and walk through a metal detector. They also have to show a valid ID proving they are at least 21 years old.
Prohibited items include guns, ammunition, explosives, including fireworks, and large knives. A full list of banned items can be found here.
If a prohibited item is found, the person will be asked to leave and come back without the weapon.
A new vehicle traffic pattern has also been added in the hopes of improving the flow of cars and the access to parking, according to the release.
A section of Mill Street near Westport Road will be closed to vehicles on weekend nights, but the nearby 600-car garage will still be accessible to cars. Westport encourages using the ParkMobile app to help find empty spots near the district.
Vehicles still won’t be allowed to enter or leave the pedestrian-only area between 10:30 p.m. and 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Screenings began in 2018
The screenings began after Kansas City Council voted in December 2017 to allow privatization of some sidewalks in the entertainment district. Under Missouri law, police can screen for concealed weapons on private but not public property. It took another nine months before the screenings began.
In 2019, Westport doubled the number of metal detectors from the year before to eight. This was to speed up lines, especially at the Mill Street checkpoints. In April of 2020, the district added six security checkpoints, bringing the total to eight, following shootings in the bar district in 2018.
Westport has said the screenings are similar to those at professional sporting venues: weapons and large metal objects are prohibited.
Recent shootings in Westport
On April 17, two people were shot at about 12:15 p.m. near 40th Street and Westport Road, police said at the time. They were treated for injuries that were not life-threatening. A spokeswoman for Westport said the shooting was near the Westport post office, and not in the entertainment district.
A few months earlier, on Feb. 7, Tyreze Williams, 31, was shot near Westport Road and Southwest Trafficway, police said. It was about 12:30 p.m. on a Sunday. Williams later died from his injuries. This shooting was a few blocks from the entertainment district.
In September, a man was arrested for firing shots at about 2 a.m. on a Sunday in a parking lot near 535 Westport Road, just outside the entertainment district.
A February 2020 shooting at about 1:20 a.m. on a Saturday left one man dead and four people wounded when a gunman fired from a white SUV traveling down Mill Street in Westport. A Westport spokeswoman at the time said the incident started from an altercation inside the Throwback bar. The security checkpoints started up again two months after the shooting.
The victim, 17-year-old Devin Harris, was among the 182 homicides recorded in 2020 in Kansas City, the most in the city’s history in a single year, according to data maintained by The Star. The majority were gun homicides. The year also ended with 631 living gunshot victims, according to police data.
So far this year, there have been 63 killings.
Gun violence is the subject of a statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 11:46 AM.
