By John Sharp
Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson told the January 12 meeting of the South Kansas City Alliance that her office is emphasizing filing serious state criminal charges for domestic violence incidents.
Johnson explained in the past such violent incidents have too often resulted in the offenders just being charged with mere city ordinance violations, even in some cases where the victims suffered physical harm. She said she has made it clear to city police departments in the county that she wants such cases brought to her office first so it can consider filing state charges before ever giving them to city prosecutors for possible prosecution of city ordinance violations.
She also stressed that her office is filing state criminal charges when city police departments in the county present her office with evidence of people engaging in celebratory or other types of reckless gunfire within or into any city limits in the county and is taking such violations very seriously.
Formerly, such dangerous and sometimes deadly gunfire that has plagued KCMO and other Missouri cities for many years – greatly escalating on holidays such as July 4th and New Year’s Eve – was prosecuted if at all as just a city ordinance violation.
But in 2024 after years of considering but not passing it, the Missouri General Assembly passed Blair’s Law named to honor the memory of 11-year-old Blair Shanahan Lane who died here after being struck by such gunfire while playing in the yard on July 4, 2011, and then-Governor Mike Parson signed it into law effective in August of that year.
It provides escalating times of incarceration for multiple offenses plus the possibility of hefty fines.
The first offense is a state misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, and the second offense is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison. Subsequent offenses are more serious felonies punishable by up to seven years in prison.
If someone is killed by such gunfire the shooter is likely to face involuntary manslaughter charges when apprehended.
Since Blair’s Law took effect, records show that Johnson has filed more charges for Blair’s Law violations than any other county prosecutor in Missouri.
Drop in Crime
KCMO Police Department officials discussed the recently reported significant citywide drops in several categories of serious crimes from 2024 to 2025 at the SKCA meeting and other developments within the department impacting public safety.
Citywide, from 2024 to 2025, the number of stolen vehicles fell 32%, non-fatal shootings fell 31%, robberies fell 27%, property damage fell 19% and stealing fell 15%. Homicides only fell 5%, but the 2025 homicide total was still the lowest number of homicides since 2018.
Deputy Police Chief Ryan Mills explained that the department is still short-staffed. He noted when the current and next Police Academy classes complete their Academy and on-the-job training, those recruits will add about 85 more officers to the department’s staffing but still leaving it nearly 10% short of being fully staffed.
Assistant South Patrol Division Commander Captain Jeffrey Littlejohn noted South Patrol is planning to initiate a second Take Back the Block program in a residential area experiencing relatively high levels of crime to teach residents how to keep themselves and their property safer and how they can best work with officers to maintain a safe community.
South Patrol has already conducted one Take Back the Block program in a residential area and is currently conducting a similar program with business owners and operators in the Watts Mill commercial area.
Littlejohn also warned area residents that south Kansas City is experiencing a relatively high level of burglaries in vacant houses by thieves often looking for copper to steal and asked them to keep an eye on nearby vacant houses. He also warned people that there has been a recent increase in burglaries at storage units and suggested people renting such units should carefully investigate their safety features such as cameras, gates and fences before renting them.