Some property crimes are up in KC. How will next Jackson County prosecutor handle cases?
The two candidates running to be Jackson County’s next prosecutor have divergent visions on how they would handle property crime cases, an issue that has been in the spotlight after a rash of break-ins at local businesses.
Republican Tracey Chappell and Democrat Melesa Johnson are vying to take the spot of longtime Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, who is not seeking reelection.
Chappell said that Baker has declined to prosecute property crimes, a notion Baker has challenged and that Johnson says data does not support.
In a blog post, Baker called the sentiment that property crimes go unpunished in the county a “troubling myth” and said her office files a high rate of charges when they get cases. For instance, she said, recent numbers show her office has filed up to 88% of the time on car thefts. The problem, Baker wrote, is that the Kansas City Police Department does not solve a lot of cases to be presented for charges.
Sgt. Phil DiMartino, a spokesman for the police department, said they have a collaborative relationship with the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
“We share information on a regular basis on cases ranging from violent crimes to property crimes,” he said in a statement.
Johnson said the data does not support the notion that property crimes go unpunished by the prosecutor’s office.
Chappell contends that when she was a city prosecutor in Blue Springs, she received felony property crimes cases that should have been handled by Jackson County.
Mike Mansur, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, said the Blue Springs Police Department has been a well-run department.
“We would be surprised, if not shocked, that they would send a felony case to the city prosecutor,” he said. “We know of no cases.”
According to information presented at the Kansas City police board’s meeting last month, property damage, shoplifting and stolen autos were on the rise compared to 2023. But other types of property crimes such as burglary, fraud and theft from cars and buildings were trending downwards.
What candidates would do differently
If elected, Chappell said property crimes would remain under the general crimes division of the prosecutor’s office, but “we have to actually prosecute those cases because they have not been prosecuted in the manner that they should be.”
She also said she believes youth “are not dealt with in a more heavy hand as they should” and they should face tougher sentences.
Crime can be reduced, she said, “when we collaborate with the police officers, as opposed to trying to defund them or being against them.”
The Kansas City Police Department was allocated $317,258,928 for the next fiscal year, an 11.5% increase over the previous year’s budget of $284 million.
Though Johnson said Baker has a fairly high prosecution rate, she said she still thinks the office needs to ramp up property crimes prosecution.
If elected, Johnson said she wants to establish a new property crimes division. That would include a hotline where staff could review preliminary evidence such as doorbell camera footage and then coordinate with police officers to work up a case.
“To be able to handle that influx of cases, we need more manpower,” Johnson said.
The new division would be staffed by attorneys who serve as supervisors as well as law students from local law schools.
She said the cost would be minimal, and similar law clinics across the country have been successful. Students get practical experience, and it’s also a recruiting measure to expose them to the profession, Johnson said.
“Most importantly, in my opinion, offenders are held accountable before their criminality naturally continues to escalate.”
The election will be held Nov. 5.
