Mayor Lucas proposes $16 million jail conversion in response to outrage over crime in KC
Recent concerns residents have raised about crime have prompted Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas to propose spending $16 million on a detention facility at the Kansas City Police Department headquarters.
The eighth floor of the downtown building at East 11th and Locust streets would be repurposed into a holding and booking facility with capacity for 144 people, including 55 overnight beds, Lucas said during the Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Tuesday.
People would be held there for up to 72 hours after being arrested.
Construction on the facility would begin in 2025, and officials hope it would be completed in time for the FIFA World Cup. Kansas City will host six matches beginning in June 2026.
The detention center would be in addition to a proposal for a new Kansas City municipal jail, which is slated for about 250 beds. Jackson County is also building a new jail at a cost of more than $300 million.
The police department had a central holding and booking facility until it closed in 2015. The metro patrol division has a capacity to hold 18 people. Some people who are arrested are sent to detention centers in Johnson and Vernon counties in Missouri, said Officer Alayna Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for KCPD.
Lucas is expected to introduce the ordinance at Thursday’s City Council meeting. The funding would come from the Public Safety Sales Tax Fund. The mayor said he hopes the measure can pass in the next one to two weeks.
During the BOPC meeting, Police Chief Stacey Graves said officers have responded to “recent disorder” by executing search warrants, recovering firearms and increasing patrols.
In recent weeks, the city has grappled with and residents have drawn attention to crime near the SunFresh grocery store on Prospect Avenue, break-ins at local businesses and the high-profile killing of restaurateur Shaun Brady. He was taking out the trash at his Brookside business on Aug. 28 when he was fatally shot. Two teenagers were arrested. City officials and community members have expressed concern that it seems like many of the recent crimes have been linked to youth.
“Police offer the first consequence, the arrest of a person for a criminal offense,” Graves said. “This service is needed to make our city safer. We took an oath to serve, and we’re owning up to that service. We’re making arrests and we will continue to do so.”
Lucas said they have to make sure there are consequences for people and that the jail was “step one” in doing that.
“I hope everyone who commits a crime that merits an arrest gets arrested and then gets transported somewhere,” he said. “That being said, on the city side, we have to do our part and make sure they have somewhere to go.”
However some community members questioned if a new jail was the most effective way to address crime.
“What is that going to solve?” asked LaTonia Draffen, a member of the group Decarcerate KC.
She said people get thrown in a cell, let out and repeat the cycle. Instead, Draffen said, the money would be better spent on services for youth, mental health and housing.
“This is helping them, this is building them back up,” she said.
Draffen also wondered what kind of health and mental health care would be available in the new facility.
According to information presented at the board meeting Tuesday, property damage, shoplifting and stolen autos were on the rise in Kansas City compared to 2023. But other types of property crimes such as burglary, fraud and theft from cars and buildings were trending downwards.
In terms of violent crime, the city has recorded 111 homicides compared to 141 at this time last year, according to data tracked by The Star. Nonfatal shootings are up 23%. According to information from the department, there were 430 nonfatal shootings as of Sept. 5, compared to 349 at the same time in 2023.
This story was originally published September 10, 2024 at 3:44 PM.
