Homicides fell below 500 last year in Chicago for the first since 2015, marking the third consecutive year of double-digit decreases, official Police Department statistics show.
Anyone can and no doubt will say what they will about the Windy City but if it, the city and the police, are getting good results, this kind of results, cutting homicides and shootings, with their population and size, it seems we here in Kansas City could likely learn things from them. Someone--the police chief, our new Mayor, someone, ought to maybe get up there, ask some questions and see what they're doing to get good results.
Yesterday, Grandview police do the same--shot and killed a man with two ornamental swords. A 49 year old man. His family had called because he was acting erratically. This is what they got for their phone call and concern.
I had some time away from the office today and had to run some errands. One of those errands took me to the Target store at Ward Parkway Mall. Those pesky vacuum cleaner bags, you know?
I pulled into the parking lot and, before getting parked, noticed a Kansas City, Missouri police department squad car, parked there but far out in the lot. It seemed odd. I never see that.
I got inside, of course, only to see an officer. "Ah, that's the one who parked there", I thought.
Then I saw another officer.
And another.
And sure, it's the holidays but the store seemed unusually busy for the middle of the week and middle of the day.
Pretty soon, I noticed there were police--and families with them, it seemed--all over the place.
I stopped this one young officer and asked him what was up.
He said that, yes, the KCPD did this, every year, I guess. Today there were going to be 152 kids go through with them, shopping, today alone. They call it their "Shop With a Cop" program, you guessed it, for the holidays.
I congratulated and thanked him and a few of the other officers there.
What a fantastic program. Seems Target sponsors it.
Seems it's quite the national program. Lee's Summit does it, as does Parkville and Prairie Village, on the Kansas Side and lots of other cities and towns in the area. Unknown to me, it's been going on for years. This video, from KMBC News, is from 2014.
So kudos, KCPD, and to you, too, Target and really, all of Kansas City.
What a great thing. What a great, even beautiful thing to do.
Well, happy birthday, baby Lisa Irwin. Today she would be a year old. Hopefully she's safe and sound somewhere and will be home again soon. But if she is, if she ever is, apparently it won't be because her parents helped the police any further. From the Star today: "An attorney for the parents of missing baby Lisa Irwin said today that his clients will not sit down to separate interviews as police are requesting." If you're innocent, as we all want to believe Lisa's parents are, why would you not be interviewed any way the police want? A lot of us out here don't get that.
Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/11/3260417/baby-lisas-attorney-explains-parents.html
I put this up to point out, yes, that we've seem to become a police state here in the US but also to point out that this kind of thing happened to me, too, here in good ol' KCMO. I walked up, one night, to a police tape on Main Street and spoke to the officer standing there. He said if I said one more word to him, literally--he repeated it twice--that he would arrest me. "One more word." So much for "free speech." Or, in this young lady's case, so much for peaceful protest.
Did you read the article yesterday, in the Star, about the two guys who tried to hold up---wait for it---A GUN STORE??
Wait, too. It gets better. Much better.
Not only did these two rocket scientists think it was a great idea to try to rob A GUN STORE because, you know, those guys in there WON'T HAVE ANY GUNS... they also tried to ROB A GUN STORE when the CLERK WAS VERY VISIBLY ARMED.
But wait, as Dan Akroyd would say.... there's still more!
They went in to rob the place WITH AN EMPTY GUN. 'Cuz, again, you know... the guys in gun stores won't notice that, RIGHT?
The man pulled a blue .357 revolver with a 4-inch barrel from his waistband, pointed it at the clerk and said, “Give me your money!”
The clerk had practiced for just such an occasion. He was ready.
He zeroed in on the robber’s cylinder and saw it was empty as he reached for his own gun and pulled it from its holster.
So, okay, all that goes down, but there's one last huge piece of stupid on this thing because at the beginning of the hold-up, the "customer" put down 2 twenty dollar bills on the counter.
Once the ARMED SALES CLERK pulled out his own gun, to thwart their robbery attempt, the two little clowns promptly high-tailed it out the door. From the article:
“His eyes got as big as two dinner plates,” the clerk said. “Before I got mine pointed at him, he ran to the door at, like, 95 mph. I’m surprised he didn’t bust the glass out of the door.”
The clerk, who had started to squeeze his trigger, relaxed his finger as the robbers fled, leaving behind the two $20 bills.
“I was going to shoot him,” the clerk said. “Everything that could have gone wrong could have, but didn’t.”
The robbers were last seen running south.
You just can't write stuff--stupid stuff and funny stuff, anyway--any better than that.
Enjoy your Sunday, y'all. I'm still wiping the tears from my eyes.
A 45-minute chase that went through areas of both sides of the state line ended Tuesday morning when the driver got out of the car and ran into a Kansas City McDonald’s.
So many times, with so many things, if something is done badly, everyone screams bloody murder about it. Right?
You bet.
But done right, done correctly?
Virtually no matter what it is, with too few exceptions, certainly, you don't hear a thing.
That seems especially true with any government office, in general, but police departments, perhaps, particularly.
So when I saw an article at the Star about how the KCMO Police Department apprehended and arrested 3 men for a "robbery attempt" ahead of the robbery---before it even happened, I had questions.
The biggest question was how did they do that?
How did they arrest 3 men for a robbery attempt BEFORE it happenend?
It sounded like something out of Tom Cruise's "Minority Report" movie, of course, with the police arresting people prior to an act. Again, how could and did they do that?
So it was an interesting article to read (see link below) and I have to say, kudos, salutations and congratulations to these officers and the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department for a terrific job, extremely well done.
If you read the article--as everyone in KCMO should--you can see it took some homework and at least 3 mornings in a row of extremely early wakeup calls. (Wanna' deride it? YOU get yer butt outta' bed 3 days in a row at about 4 am to catch some would-be thieves, try to remain anonymous and be successful in catching the clowns. See if you like it or it's easy.)
I was clunking around at the Kansas City Star website just now and ran across a page I didn't know they had. It shows the people who were murdered in the metropolitan area, all on one page, and links to the original story in the paper that told about them and their deaths. I think it's quite a nice touch, on the Star's part. I also think it should get more coverage. I think we need to pay more attention, as a city, to who's killed and how and where, so we know what's going on and maybe so we can offer up solutions. But you're heard all this before from me here on this blog. Here's a sampling:
Vincent McCollumHis goal was to open a restaurantErick S. GandarillaGuardsman died here while his unit was in KosovoJarod SesleyHis mom will move... once his killer is caughtDarnell CooperHe forgave the killer of his daughterDerrick BlountDied after being shot for a second time this yearThomas Howard IIHe was preparing to buy a house to raise his boys
Here's a thought--I'd love to know if the Mayors read this. (I seriously doubt it). I wonder if the City Council members do? Church and community leaders? Anybody give a damn about these people and our murder rate?
Link to original post:
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/murdersbigmonth/#ixzz0wQGdDcjq
The Daily Beast blog came out with their list of the "Most Corrupt States" and thankfully Missouri and Kansas are not in the top ten--like neighbor Oklahoma is at 10--but Missouri is at the 15 spot.
We need to do better, people. We need to demand much better of our legislators.
And if you don't think we need to do better, on this list, we beat out New Jersey and New York state, for pity's sake, in corruption.
Yikes.
Rep. Jason Kander's attempt at ethics reform in Jefferson City would be a great start.
Recent Scandal: For such a simple scheme, it's amazing that Denny Ray Hardin of Kansas City got as far as he did. Hardin allegedly used his home computer to concoct bonded promissory notes he said were authorized by the US Department of Treasury. The notes were, Hardin claimed, as good as money. Problem is, there's no such thing as a bonded promissory note, and, as such, they were not authorized by the US Department of Treasury. Hardin doled out $100 million worth of the notes to friends, family, and customers who paid $100 per note. He faces 11 counts of fictitious obligations and 10 counts of mail fraud.
Link to original post:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/1610/1/
If you go to the link above, note that, unfortunately, they use a picture of Kansas City's downtown as their picture for the state.
Dangit.
On a far more positive note, Kansas was ranked very near the bottom of this list, at 44.
Good on ya', Kansans and Topeka (the capital). Clearly we Missourians need to emulate more of what you do and how you live.
The Star reports today that the KCMO Water Department Chief resigned this week.
What?
The questions come from the facts that a) he resigned, and somewhat quickly and surprisingly, first and b) three weeks ago he was "suspended last month with pay." It seems "an investigation was being undertaken of serious allegations" against him--Bernardo Garcia--since these allegations were "raised by someone in the Water Services Department."
Excuse me?
Three weeks ago he's suspended and now he quits, saying he "had voluntarily resigned to pursue other interests and spend more time with his family."
Right. I'm certain of it. It was just that.
Say, did you see those flying pigs last night?
No, no, you watch, more will come of this yet, I'd expect.
And I believe it will involve attorneys, at some point.
Let's call this what this was--a melee'--as I said before.
It wasn't "riot" and it certainly wasn't a "race riot", since it isn't one group against another.
You can even call it a "flash mob" as some have but a "flash mob", up to this point has meant people that get together to entertain others and create a fleeting event.
This was a flash mob that was created only to entertain themselves, at the rather big expense of others.
Two things, then, call out to me about this incident this past Saturday evening on the Plaza.
First, it seems insane that these kids coordinated this anarchy and chaos for entertainment.
There's no other way to describe it. It was simply anarchy and chaos for entertainment.
And how do you combat that?
Anyone who says you don't need or use pepper spray, then, needs to go down there and work with the police to get and keep things under control.
The second thing about this is that this is the third week in a row this has happened and, as the weather warms and word gets out, it's increasing in the number of people who participate. Good luck to us in May, June and the rest of the Summer if this isn't under control rather quickly. As in, immediately.
So if you're the government of the City of Kansas City, Missouri, or the Mayor or the Chief of Police or part of the Police Department or Highwoods Properties or their security staff, the only question is how do you stop it from happening again?
At the end of each customer’s meal, officers will encourage diners to tip their “real” waiter or waitress first and then ask them if they’d like to make a donation to Special Olympics, the charity of choice for law enforcement nationwide.
I don't think I'm being presumptuous here by pretending to, singlehandedly, speak for the citizens of the entire city but I think I'm safe in sending you this following note:
After the City Council's Planning and Zoning Committee passed a preliminary resolution this week this week in favor of the new Tomahawke Ridge housing community, North of the city, we, the citizens of Kansas City, whom you are supposed to represent, want you to know
WE DO NOT WANT THE TOMAHAWKE RIDGE DEVELOPMENT TO GO FORWARD.
And we don't want it for the following reasons, at minimum:
--It contributes to sprawl;
--It's too far from the city;
--It weakens the city's core further;
--It is 25 miles from the city's core;
--It will be difficult, at best, to give it fire protection;
--Our own Fire Department doesn't recommend it;
--The City Planning Department doesn't recommend it;
--The City can't even clear our streets now, with what we've got, let alone if we add 300+ more homes;
--The City can't even tend to our own street maintenance now, with what we've got, let alone by adding all these more miles of streets;
--The City can't even tend to our sewage system now, with what we've got, let alone by adding all this much more sewers, drains and pipes.
And that's just for starters.
We don't want it.
It isn't prudent, to use an old phrase from Saturday Night Live.
The above picture is one of the best and most glaring examples of what I've written about here a few times. And that is, The Kansas City Star's inability--or lack of desire or something--to write anything penetrating--and yes, potentially negative--about the state of the area's real estate, with some few, rare exceptions.
I assume the realtors have them by the throat or something.
I thought one of the most important jobs the local newspaper would be to keep the area readers and inhabitants informed on the state of one of our most important facets of our economy--that is, both the commercial and residential real estate markets.
Silly me.
The above condominium building was created in the last year or two but to this day has remained vacant. It's in a very desirable area, too, overlooking Mill Creek Park, just off the Country Club Plaza, and is a beautiful facility.
And if it were the only one--or just one of few in the area--I could understand overlooking it.
But the fact is, there is a great number of these condominiums available in the area.
And you wouldn't know it by reading the local paper.
Commercial real estate? Especially retail?
Same thing.
I would think there are more stories there.
They did have one article, a couple days ago on foreclosure notice rates in the city compared to others, nationwide and another on discounts home buyers were getting on properties--the "pretty" news, for buyers--but that's nearly it.
And sure, they'll report the opening of a new store now and again, but give the overall, big picture on real estate, especially now, when we're in a downturn?
It was our number one story in Kansas City this past year and it hopefully won't be next year.
That is, right now we stand at 110 homicides in Kansas City.
That is far too many killings, folks. It's got to stop. Hopefully that will be it for the year but we do have 24 hours to go so let's hope for the best.
We need to stop it.
I don't know how. No one seems to.
What we do know is that, to do it, people will have to work together.
Churches, politicians, the police department, community leaders, average people on the streets--everyone.
Here's to 2010.
And may we have far fewer murders, shootings and homicides in Kansas City in that new year.
Let's make it our number one goal and not our number one story.
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