Homicide record set in 2023, strategies addressed

By John Sharp

As many people feared would happen, KCMO set a new all-time record for annual homicides in 2023 with 182.
This broke the previous record of 179 set in 2020, exceeded the 170 homicides in 2022 which previously had the second highest number ever recorded, and far outpaced the 157 homicides in 2021 and 151 homicides in 2019.
According to the homicide analysis released by the Kansas City Police Department, 119 (65%) of the victims were Black males, 21 (12%) were White males, 16 (9%) were Hispanic males, 15 (8%) were Black females and 9 (5%) were White females. One victim was classified as an American Indian/Pacific Islander male and another victim was classified as Other.
Children and youth 17-years-old and younger made up 19 (10%) of the victims.
Firearms, predominantly handguns, were the means of attack for an overwhelming number of the homicides, with knives used as the means of attack in 12 and blunt force by hands or feet or an object used in 6.
For the homicides where the cause was known, arguments were by far the most common cause contributing to 67 homicides, followed by domestic violence which contributed to 22, drugs (including marijuana) to 21 and retaliation to 18. Robbery was listed as the cause for 15 homicides.
For KCPD’s 6 patrol divisions, East Patrol had 74 homicides, while Metro Patrol had 50, Central Patrol had 38, South Patrol had 12, Shoal Creek Patrol had 5 and North Patrol had 3.
South Patrol had its lowest number of homicides since 2019, and both patrol divisions north of the Missouri River have always had a relatively low number of homicides. For the last 5 years, North Patrol has always had only 2 or 3 homicides per year, and Shoal Creek Patrol had from 4 to 7 annually.
As mentioned in an earlier column, KCMO’s homicide rate for big cities is not normal for big cities and should not be tolerated.
As an example, Omaha – a city nearly identical in population to KCMO with similar demographics – only had 28 homicides for all of 2023, just 15.4% of the 182 homicides we suffered. Omaha had 30 homicides in 2022.
In addition to the tragic deaths of victims and the pain and suffering of their families and friends, our horrendous homicide rate hurts our ability to attract and retain residents and businesses.
For instance as I reported earlier, Homesnack, an organization founded “to provide insights your real estate agent would neglect to mention” about locations throughout the U.S. that boasts millions of unique visitors to its website annually, in November included KCMO in its “Murder Capitols of America for 2023” list.

It ranked KCMO as having the 15th highest per capita murder rate in the nation among cities with populations over 100,000. It ranked St. Louis City as having the nation’s highest per capita murder rate among these big cities.
In an afternoon press conference January 3 at police headquarters, both Mayor Quinton Lucas and Police Chief Stacy Graves pledged mutual cooperation to reduce homicides and other violent crimes in 2024.
Specific strategies Graves stressed which will become part of a written violent crime plan the department is developing include:

• -Implementing 11-hour shifts for all six patrol divisions starting January 21 which should make more officers available on the streets during times of peak demand and reduce response times to violent crimes; and
• -Reinstituting an evidence-based focused deterrence strategy in partnership with other organizations that focuses on individuals thought likely to commit violent crimes because of their past activities and to deliver social services to them in an attempt to help them become productive citizens while making it clear to them that any future criminal activities will not be tolerated.

Graves said the department is facing a critical staffing shortage. She noted that although the department is currently about 300 officers short from being fully staffed, its homicide unit has remained fully staffed, and currently suspects are being charged in about 73% of homicides which she noted is well above the national average.
To make a dent in the overall staff shortage, she explained that the graduates from one small police academy class will be concluding their 11-week ride-along training with seasoned officers January 21 when they can hit the streets on their own, and graduates from another small class should conclude their 6-month academy training in February and be ready to start their ride-along training.
She said another class should graduate from the academy around the end of April, and a large class is expected to begin its academy training in March.
Graves said the department is also advocating for a city jail with adequate space and rehabilitative services.
Lucas noted in his remarks that he understands more funding will be needed to implement the department’s violence reduction strategies, and that he will work with the department to secure adequate funding.
He said that the city should do more to work with neighborhoods to crackdown on the operation of problem businesses that sometimes become the scenes of repeated violent crimes.