Eric Schmitt wants to bring FBI to Kansas City. Mayor Lucas isn’t against it | Opinion

Do you trust FBI Director Kash Patel to solve violent crime in Kansas City?

Do you trust him even though his hold on the job is said to be shaky? Do you trust him even though he has purged the bureau of agents who investigated the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021? Do you trust him even though he has diverted a number of remaining agents away from their traditional responsibilities — counterterrorism, drug trafficking and violent crimes — to do the grubby work of chasing down migrants?

And do you trust a Trump administration that has used the specter of crime as justification to send federal forces into Democrat-run cities, causing chaos?

I admit to skepticism.

Sen. Eric Schmitt sees things differently. Last week — in a move that got a bit lost amid the Thanksgiving hubbub — Missouri’s junior senator publicly asked Patel to come to Kansas City for a visit and to plan for the future.

“I’m inviting him to Kansas City to discuss how we can crush violent crime,” Schmitt wrote on X.

Again, I’m skeptical this is a good thing. But maybe that’s a knee-jerk reaction. Less crime is good. More crime is bad. Everybody can agree on those two ideas, right?

So, I checked in this week with the office of Mayor Quinton Lucas to see what they thought. The mayor’s office is “always open to expanded federal support,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“We are committed to making Kansas City safer and welcome collaboration from those who authentically share in that concern.”

Reasons for hope

Here’s a reason for optimism, I guess: Kansas City has seen a surge of FBI resources before, in 2020, after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro was shot and killed in his home. Agents tracked down illegal guns, arrested suspects with felony warrants and charged some with federal crimes.

Which is why Lucas in September told The New York Times he would “say yes in an instant” to a new round of federal law enforcement support for efforts such as cracking down on guns. “I’d go to the White House and have a press conference with them tomorrow.”

Schmitt, for his part, points across the state to St. Louis, where the FBI announced in August it was boosting agent numbers as part of an operation called “St. Louis Summer Heat.” That reportedly resulted in hundreds of arrests and seizures of methamphetamine and fentanyl.

The FBI’s St. Louis surge is ”instrumental in promoting law and order in the area,” Schmitt said in his Thanksgiving Eve letter to Patel. Those efforts have “already begun to improve the lives of St. Louis’s citizens.”

Trump’s working against Democratic cities

So why my skepticism?

For one, it’s difficult to suss out how much difference the bulked-up FBI presence has actually made in St. Louis. The city’s murder numbers are down this year, but they have been falling steeply since 2021, long before Trump took office again. Kansas City’s homicide rate peaked with 182 deaths during a brutal 2023, but dropped massively last year — again, before Trump took office — and is trending still lower this year: The city has seen 129 homicides as of Wednesday.

Still too much, but better.

“Kansas City has made significant progress in reducing crime this year,” Lucas’ office told me. “The results come from local strategies developed by people who know this city and are accountable to Kansas City residents.”

That accountability is key. For much of this year, the Trump administration has appeared to be more interested in leveraging its fearsome powers against Democrat-run cities — places such as Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago — than in collaborating with them.

The results can be seen in Memphis, where Trump ordered a crackdown in September. That effort has produced more than 2,000 arrests and brought down crime, but has also overwhelmed the city’s court system and raised questions of whether federal agents are purposely targeting Black and Latino motorists for arrest.

Which, naturally, has raised racial tensions in Memphis. It’s not an outcome Kansas City should desire.

That said, you can’t blame Lucas for being open to increased federal crime fighting support. “Resources such as increased federal funding, cold-case investigators, crime-gun detection technology, and anti-terrorism intelligence that help us prevent and solve crimes are always welcome,” the mayor’s office said.

So sure, welcome the help. But maybe be wary when and if Patel comes to town. This is still the Trump administration we’re talking about.