Quinton Lucas: Reducing violent crime is my top priority for Kansas City
2019 was one of the deadliest years in Kansas City history.
Last year, 148 people in our community were murdered. More than 500 of our brothers and sisters have been victims of nonfatal shootings. Every single one of these people has loved ones — parents, siblings, children, spouses, friends — whose lives are changed forever because of our violence epidemic. My heart goes out to the many families that have just endured their first holiday season without their loved ones.
We cannot become numb to our violence problem, shrug our shoulders like this is too big of a problem to solve, or waste time yelling at officials in Jefferson City or Washington, blaming our own inaction on them. Instead, my office continues to work as quickly, strategically and creatively as possible to curb this epidemic.
Since taking office in August, I’ve introduced several ordinances to help keep guns out of the hands of minors and those committing domestic abuse — all of which passed the City Council with overwhelming support. While this was an important first step, we have much more work to do to make Kansas City safer.
Reducing violent crime remains my top priority as we head into the new year.
Retaliatory crime continues to be a challenge for our community. Over the past several months, we’ve been exploring ways to better equip our public safety officers and community health professionals with the tools they need to diffuse heated circumstances more quickly, while maintaining the trust of our community.
The current clearance rate for fatal and particularly nonfatal shootings in Kansas City is deeply disappointing, and is the result of insufficient resources devoted to investigating these crimes, as well as the reluctance of shooting victims to cooperate.
While I’m encouraged by recent news that the Kansas City Police Department is looking to hire more detectives to help investigate shootings, City Hall must do more to support our shooting clearance efforts and ensure that these crimes are given the attention necessary to make substantial progress in 2020.
Our upcoming city budget will include funding to hire more police officers and social workers, and to build out a diverse, well-trained department. We must ensure these additional people are used in ways that focus on preventing and solving violent crimes.
Our budget will also include funding to expand mental health resources for survivors of shootings and the friends and families of homicide victims. I fully intend to break the cycle in which today’s friend or relative of a victim is tomorrow’s victim or potential assailant.
Additionally, my office is hosting work sessions with the City Council, police leadership and other community leaders to determine and expand upon what is working in our taxpayer-supported crime reduction industrial complex, and then to adjust what isn’t working. This includes review of KC NoVA, the Kansas City No Violence Alliance, and other crime prevention programs taxpayers support each year.
As a police commissioner, I’ve requested our police department, in alignment with other major city departments, to establish weekly shooter reviews to ensure that all investigatory and prevention efforts are being coordinated as effectively as possible across all taxpayer-funded entities, including our prosecutors’ offices. My goal here is clear: to prevent new victims by solving crimes and providing assistance to those most at risk.
I acknowledge that curbing violent crime requires more than just law enforcement-related solutions. That’s why you have seen me invest significant time and political capital into our zero-fare public transit system; access to quality, affordable housing; and better delivery of mental health care services in Kansas City.
Our work in all these areas will continue, but we know this is a battle fought on two prongs: preventing new tragedies in our community today, and ensuring we build safer community for the next generation.
Quinton Lucas is mayor of Kansas City.