Reducing positions while maintaining service

I wrote in my last blog about the staffing challenges the budget for this fiscal year (which began Sunday) presented to our department. We now have worked out exactly where we are going to reduce positions, and I wanted to share that with our community. Keep in mind we are eliminating positions, not people. All the positions that are being reduced this year already were vacant or are expected to be vacated through attrition. Many of these spots have been vacant for years, so it's not as though we're embarking on a sudden reduction in force.

To balance our budget, we had to decrease our 1,457 sworn law enforcement positions by about 8 percent. As a comparison, that’s about the equivalent of the staffing of a whole suburban patrol division (like South, North or Shoal Creek patrol divisions) and then some. Of course we spread these reductions out to minimize the impact on neighborhoods as much as possible. And not all are in patrol. Some will be detective spots, others are training officers, and more.

Here is how eliminated positions break down in some of the most visible bureaus – Investigations and Patrol:

• 24 from the Investigations Bureau (includes Violent Crime, Violent Crime Enforcement and Narcotics and Vice divisions)
  
• 85 from the Patrol Bureau:

     - Central Patrol reduced by 24 positions to 162 officers
     - Metro Patrol reduced by 14 positions to 150 officers
     - East Patrol reduced by 17 positions to 155 officers
     - South Patrol reduced by 13 positions to 94 officers
     - North Patrol reduced by 9 positions to 92 officers
     - Shoal Creek reduced by 2 positions to 92 officers
     - Special Operations Division (includes Tactical Enforcement, Canine, Mounted Patrol, Helicopter and Bomb & Arson) reduced by 2 positions to 81 officers
     - Traffic Division reduced by 4 positions to 85 officers.

This undoubtedly puts more pressure on the officers in the field and increases caseloads for those in investigations. As I mentioned previously, continued reductions in force could lead to increased response times for 911 calls. But we’re doing what we can to abate that.

We’ve come up with a number of ways to help reduce the demand on patrol officers so they can spend the time needed to provide the service our residents expect and deserve, rather than running from call to call. Our Tactical Enforcement officers are increasingly responding to 911 calls for service. Officers in the Traffic Enforcement Division are helping secure crime scenes – a job that used to belong to district officers. This frees the district officers up to answer calls or help with the on-scene investigation. I’ve shifted our Hot Spot program to put officers into the areas that are most in need of police attention. They’re working on everything from seeking out parole absconders and violent crime suspects to helping with community clean-ups and neighborhood meetings. You can read more about those changes in last month’s Informant newsletter.

We’ve realigned several things in investigations to streamline casework and ensure detectives properly follow up with all cases. Our Quality Control Unit is working with officers and detectives to ensure the best cases possible are presented for prosecution, which should help assist detectives as they take on more work.

We're always looking at ways to improve our efficiency. One of the things we're currently examining is how officers' shifts are scheduled. We must work within the budget we are allocated. As you read in my last blog, we have made many cost-cutting moves over the last few years. With law enforcement under more scrutiny than ever before, we will continue to serve our city with professionalism and integrity, no matter the circumstances or budget.

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org. 

KC 2014 homicides lowest since 1972

In 2014, Kansas City, Mo., experienced the lowest number of homicides it has since 1972. There have been 77 recorded homicides in 2014. Keep in mind, this number still could fluctuate. Investigators are waiting on a toxicology report for one person. If someone dies next year from an act of violence that took place this year, it will be added to 2014’s total. (This has happened before, up to 10 years later – someone is injured by a traumatic beating or shooting, and they must receive long-term care. They later pass away from injuries ultimately resulting from their assault.)

The chart below shows the verifiable UCR (Uniform Crime Report numbers submitted annually to the FBI) data we have on Kansas City homicides dating back to 1969. None of these numbers include officer-involved shootings. They are apples-to-apples comparisons. 

While we are pleased with the reductions in these numbers, we know there are still 77 families grieving. We will not give up working for justice for them. Nor will we rest in our efforts to prevent more violent crime from taking place. 

We have done many things to reduce violent crime, but many others have been part of making our city safer. Below are some of our initiatives: 

Our Victim Assistance Unit has gone a long way to ensure violent crime victims and their family members get the support they need and let the justice process take its course, reducing acts of retaliation. The detectives assigned to the unit have offered the victims crisis intervention, criminal justice information and referrals to community services for needs directly resulting from the crime such as shelter, food, clothing, grief and trauma counseling. By far, the most requested service from these victims has been trauma counseling. 

The Kansas City No Violence Alliance (KC NoVA) deserves credit for reducing violent crime while beefing up community support for police. KC NoVA is a partnership begun in 2013 between our department, prosecutors, city government, social services and academia. This program has mapped out the relationships of everyone involved in a violent crime in our city over the last four years. It targets the most violent offenders – those at the epicenters of these criminal networks – for aggressive prosecution. For those less-violent offenders on the periphery of the mapped-out criminal networks, KC NoVA offers them a way out of a criminal lifestyle through support and social services. These offenders have been identified as being 100 times more likely to be a murder victim than the average Kansas City resident. KC NoVA’s Social Services component has assessed hundreds of clients. In partnership with numerous community resources, KC NoVA has provided them with substance abuse treatment, employment assistance, housing services, anger management courses and mental health treatment. Many clients cannot read or write and have received literacy and education assistance. 

The lack of literacy among those in criminal networks highlights the importance of early intervention, and it’s why I consider our Police Athletic League (PAL) an important crime-fighting tool. PAL offers youth the opportunity to interact with police officers in a positive setting while participating in cultural, mentoring and sports programs, with the main emphasis placed on academics. PAL is a non-profit organization staffed by Kansas City Police officers. The officers often get very involved in the lives of the children. They have done everything from driving them to a doctor’s appointment to helping their families get a new furnace when they could not afford one. The impact PAL has had on the lives of our urban-core children, many of whom live in poverty, cannot be overstated. Some of these children have gone on to college with academic and athletic scholarships, attaining careers they never would have thought possible. They also are a new generation of urban-core residents who trust police, and who have brought their family and friends to do so, as well. 

At the beginning of 2014, we also nearly doubled the amount of police personnel who work in hot spots, which are the small areas of the city where the most violent crime occurs. Every officer, detective and sergeant on this department not in an under-cover position now works six nights a year in a “hot spot.” Essentially, this means there is an extra squad of officers in East, Central and Metro Patrol divisions during their busiest nights every week. That’s more than 14,000 hours of additional police service for the residents of our city who are most affected by violent crime, and all of that came from existing resources. 

The fact remains that we cannot do what we do without the community. They are our eyes and ears. The more trust between police and residents, the safer our city is, period. We have amazing support from faith, business and neighborhood leaders. Our officers know that the vast majority of our residents are law-abiding folks who want the violence to stop as much as we do. We have forged some extremely beneficial partnerships with these residents, and they are making their communities safer.

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org. 

Hot Spot Policing is making a difference

I have written about Hot Spot Policing on this blog before, and I wanted to share with you the impact it has had in the two-plus years we’ve been doing it. At the beginning of this year, we nearly doubled the amount of personnel who work in hot spots, which are the small areas of the city where the most violent crime occurs. Every officer, detective and sergeant on this department not in an under-cover position now works six nights a year in a “hot spot.” Essentially, this means there is an extra squad of officers in East, Central and Metro Patrol divisions during their busiest nights every week. In the first half of this year, hot spot personnel worked 7,216 hours. That’s 7,216 hours of additional police service in a six-month period for the residents of our city who are most affected by violent crime, and all of that came from our existing resources.

In 2012, 50 percent of all the city’s homicides occurred in two of our four hot spots. For years, all four areas disproportionately contributed to the number of murders in our city. As of this writing, two of the four hot spots have had zero homicides this year. That is remarkable, and it speaks to the hard work of our officers, as well as the hard work of the community. Overall, Kansas City is down by 24 homicides compared to this date last year.

In the first half of 2012, Hot Spot officers made an impressive amount of positive contacts with residents. Some played football with children, and others helped the victim of a domestic violence stabbing. Some assisted with juvenile issues on the Country Club Plaza and some arrested a man with a fully loaded handgun on drug possession charges right before he walked into a store. Two homicide detectives arrested a robbery suspect. In February, A sergeant attended one of our weekly intelligence-sharing meetings and learned about a robbery pattern along Main Street. That same day, two officers from our Research and Development Division were working hot spots and responded to a robbery call at Pancho’s at 3540 Main. They learned the suspect had likely gone to the 3700 block of Warwick. They waited outside in the cold and snow for an hour until they saw the suspect come out the back door of an apartment building, and he was apprehended. Further investigation found he was the person responsible for the other Main Street robberies.

I greatly appreciate the work our officers, detectives and sergeants are doing in hot spots, as well as the community response to their work. Let’s keep working together so that there someday may be no crime hot spots at all in Kansas City.

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Hot spot policing undergoes changes

The below article is from the January edition of our monthly newsletter, the Informant:

The department’s hot spot policing initiative got kicked up a notch on Jan. 1, with hundreds more officers now working to stop violence in the city’s most troubled neighborhoods.

Chief Darryl Forté launched hot spot policing in May 2012, pulling officers and sergeants in non-patrol positions onto the streets 20 nights a year. Their goal was to combat violent crime in the areas of the city most plagued with it in the Central, East and Metro patrol divisions. The initiative did an admirable job increasing police presence and deterring crime, but Chief Forté realized some changes were needed.

Approximately 340 officers and sergeants now are in the rotation to work hot spot areas. That’s nearly twice as many as last year. The additional help means more officers in troubled neighborhoods at the most key times – 3 to 11 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Officer Tommy Woods, special projects coordinator in the Chief’s Office, said this is increasing positive contacts with residents. It’s also lightened the load for department members trying to juggle hot spot assignments with their regular duties. Each officer and sergeant now only works hot spots six days per year instead of 20. Previously exempt groups like violent and property crimes detectives, traffic investigators and pretty much everyone besides under-cover detectives now are in the mix.

In addition to crime suppression, Chief Forté had another motive for getting as many members patrolling hot spots as possible. In the event of a critical incident, he said he wants every law enforcement member on the department to be able to operate inside a police vehicle and use all the technology therein. This has led to another change: more training for officers who have been out of the field for a while.

Staff in the Police Academy, Chief’s Office and Patrol Bureau have created a new “Street Reboot” course for officers. It familiarizes them with in-car technology like dash-cam video and e-ticketing as well as other department technology like booking and reporting systems.

“The class already is filled to capacity in January and February,” Officer Woods said.

But perhaps the biggest change to the hot spot initiative is the new emphasis on intelligence and providing a clearer direction for what officers should be doing, Woods said. Before, officers were presented with broad goals including reducing homicides and violent crimes, building relationships and visibility.

The Law Enforcement Resource Center now provides current crime information to officers working hot spots at the revamped weekly IRIS (Incident Review and Information Sharing) meetings. The meetings have been moved to Thursday afternoons to provide officers going out on hot spot assignments the next day with up-to-date information about suspects and witnesses who need to be located, warrant information and probation and parole information.

Two officers who attended these meetings, which just started in January, already have used the information presented to track down two wanted suspects. One was wanted for an attempted sexual assault in which he broke through a woman’s apartment window to attack her. The sergeant who found him said he’d heard the man’s description in the IRIS meeting and recognized him when he saw him walking down the street.

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org. 

Community relationships, data lead to safer city

Kansas City Police conducted a big crime prevention initiative on Saturday. It involved tactical teams, some of our most advanced equipment and vehicles, and there were children everywhere. You can read the Kansas City Star article about it here. 

Many people may not have seen this community picnic and fair as a crime prevention event, but that is how I viewed it. Because at this picnic at 31^st and Indiana, relationships were forged. People who may never before have felt comfortable approaching a police officer were enjoying watching their children try on tactical gear and climb in our vehicles. They mingled with the many officers who came and brought their families. And those urban-core children are learning to see police as people they can trust and turn to for help.

That is where crime prevention starts: positive relationships between the community and the police. Building those relationships has been the cornerstone of my tenure as police chief. It is something I stress to all KCPD staff and something I bring up at just about every meeting I attend. It’s why I try to get out into the neighborhoods as much as I can. And it’s why I launched the Community Support Division to enhance our outreach and victim support efforts.

We can throw out arrest statistics all day long, but those are reactive numbers. I want the Kansas City Missouri Police Department to work to proactively prevent crime. As I said, trusting relationships between the police and public are the foundation of crime prevention. Smarter policing also can impede criminal activity, and we are increasingly working toward that. Here are some examples of the data-driven strategies we’re undertaking to make Kansas City safer:

         Kansas City No Violence Alliance (KC NoVA) – This partnership between police, prosecutors, Missouri Probation and Parole and the University of Missouri-Kansas City targets those most likely to commit violent crime. It analyzes the networks of people involved in criminal activity, and law enforcement then goes after those at the epicenters. They are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Those on the fringes of the criminal networks are offered social services to turn their lives around. If they choose not to accept the help, they also face prosecution.

         Hot Spot Policing – I began this policing approach soon after I took office. We are allocating extra officers to the areas of the city where we know violent crime is most likely to take place. Putting additional resources in these areas is working.

         Law Enforcement Resource Center – This center features several components – crime analysts, detectives who collect and disperse intelligence information to officers and detectives on the street, crime mapping and more. Read more about it in our Informant newsletter. 

Data informs the majority of our decisions, like where and how to deploy officers and equipment, or who is most likely to commit violent crime.

Police are not saviors. We cannot fix the many societal ills that lead to crime. We are just a piece of the puzzle that includes partners like educators, faith-based organizations, local government, non-profits and businesses. We appreciate the work all these segments of the community do to make this city a safe place to live, work and play. 

We are not the only solution to crime prevention, but we must do everything possible to be of value to the community. We have to use our resources in the most intelligent ways possible. We must get out of our cars and listen to what the public has to say. We need to forge alliances with the law-abiding residents of this city, who are the vast majority. We should let the community know they can trust us and come to us with problems or information about crime. I have been working on these relationships from Day 1 and will continue to do so. I’m trying to make it the priority of every member of this department. Whether that takes the form of talking to neighbors at a shooting scene or inviting children to take a peek inside our armored vehicles, all of these interactions are valuable and forge the path to a safer community.

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org 

Hotspot Policing Efforts Trending in the Desired Direction

Forty-one homicides have been committed this year. Until this past weekend, two of the four designated hotspot areas were homicide free so far this year. One hotspot area remains void of homicides. The year-to-date homicide total is at a five-year low (2009 - 50, 2010 - 47, 2011 - 42 and 2012 - 45). While the numbers deserve no premature celebration, they most certainly deserve sharing to communicate the positive decline in the reduction in the total loss of lives in our community.


Within three days of my appointment to Chief on October 13, 2011, I implemented hotspot policing to address violent crime by identifying and apprehending offenders as well as to build relationships in the community.

Violent crime reduction is not solely the role of the police. As I travelled around the neighborhoods over the past few months I felt a sense of community as it relates to relationships between the police and other segments of the public. Initially, opponents of the hotspot policing concept peppered me with questions. Questions centered on the likelihood of success, reassignment of resources that might negatively impact the workload in other critical areas, the lack of buy-in from police officers and questions about how success would be measured. With dedicated and committed police personnel, along with other segments of the community, we are making a positive difference in the lives of all we serve. Dedicated patrol officers, detectives and commanders, in cooperation with other segments of the community, are certainly making a difference. This difference is not solely being measured in numbers, but in relationships built on mutual respect and cooperation.

For years I have monitored the homicide rates in the greater metropolitan area. Certain periods of monitoring have evoked varying degrees of emotions, mostly feelings of sadness for the family and friends of the victims. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the death or the lifestyle of the victim, there has never been a moment when I have believed that a single victim had no value. Let us keep in mind that we all should be concerned about the well being of others because we are all in this together!

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.

Hot spot policing is reducing homicides

Hot spot policing efforts have reduced homicides in Kansas City in 2012. So far, 40 percent of this year’s homicides have taken place in hot spot areas, compared to the 52 percent that took place in those areas on average for the past three years.

This does not mean crime is getting displaced elsewhere. Homicides are down across the board. We are at 101 homicides right now, which is seven fewer than last year, one more than in 2010, five fewer than 2009 and 22 fewer than 2008.

To reduce violent crime, we have to focus our efforts on where the bulk of it occurs. That’s what hot spot policing is all about. Channel 5 gave a great first-hand look at what this looks like with their special report last month.

I thank the officers, detectives, crime scene staff and others who are out solving and preventing these crimes. I also really want to thank the community members who are increasingly coming forward with tips and information. When a neighborhood no longer tolerates crime, it won’t happen there. We’re seeing that happen more and more, and police will continue to work on building the relationships that make safer neighborhoods.

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.

Hot spot policing is not just for summertime

Just because summer is ending doesn’t mean our commitment to reducing crime in the places it’s most likely to occur will fall off. We remain dedicated to hot spot policing and building relationships in neighborhoods that have long distrusted law enforcement. Officers from all over the department will continue special assignments to hot spot areas to combat crimes and communicate with residents. Crime does not stop when summer ends. We had 17 homicides last November and will do everything we can to prevent another such occurrence.

Homicide numbers are down from the four previous years, but it’s too early to celebrate on that front. I feel the true indicator of violent crime is aggravated assault statistics. These are assaults committed with weapons. Through August of 2012, aggravated assaults are down 1.6 percent compared to this time last year. It’s a small decline, but one we will work to continue.

The vast majority of these aggravated assaults and homicides are committed with guns, so we will be increasing our efforts to get illegal weapons off the street. Officers will increase the amount of car checks they conduct. These checks will be done legally, ethically and respectfully. We will check vehicles and occupants who generate reasonable suspicion, in accordance with the law.

But the No. 1 priority for me is for police to make contact with citizens. Crime prevention efforts are not just about putting people in jail. They are about building trust and lines of communication with the community, and I see that happening more and more. There has been a certain energy of cooperation lately, with more and more residents stepping up and giving us information.

I want to thank all the department members who have made reducing crime in these areas and throughout the city a priority. I know their schedules have been altered and their lives have been disrupted to provide the extra resources. I thank them for their continued positive attitude and efforts toward keeping the residents of Kansas City safe.

They soon will be getting more assistance. Some exciting developments are underway at KCPD. I’ll be addressing them in future blogs, but I wanted to give you a taste of what’s in the works:

• A Law Enforcement Resource Center – The LERC will contain a real-time data component that will give department members in patrol and investigations the instantaneous information they need to make the best decisions possible.

• Shot Spotter- This technology that can detect gunfire and where it came from will be launching in the near future.

• KC NoVA – The Kansas City No Violence Alliance is a partnership between the police department and the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. It is expected to launch in the beginning of 2013 and will target the most violent offenders in our community.

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.

Officers do fantastic job getting illegal firearms off streets

Today I recognized two officers who have really dedicated themselves to making the community they serve a safer place. I presented the Chief’s Coin to Officers Bryan Britten and Michael Holsworth of the East Patrol Division this afternoon. The Coin is given at the Chief’s discretion, and I have awarded only one other one in my ten months on the job.

On their own, Officers Britten and Holsworth initiated a gun suppression project in the East Patrol Division inside what would later be designated as a crime hot spot in our hot spot policing initiative. They already knew that neighborhood needed attention (I’m not identifying it so as not to let criminals know where we’re concentrating our efforts). In one year, the officers recovered 18 firearms within their self-designated project area as well as 27 in the rest of their sector for a total of 45 firearms recovered. This is unheard of. Our Crime Lab later linked one of the weapons they seized to two homicides. The investigation into those is still ongoing, so I can’t say more at this time, but this piece of evidence will be vital.

The officers said they did this by “knowing their bad guys.” They did a great job targeting those who were involved in criminal activity and getting them and their weapons off the streets. Most of the people in these neighborhoods are law-abiding citizens, but the few who engage in criminal activity make the whole community unsafe. Thanks to proactive officers like Bryan Britten and Michael Holsworth, community members’ sense of security can begin to return.

Watch more about these officers on KCTV Channel 5.

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Progress in hot spots

A few months ago, there was concern that our homicide rate was out of control. If you look at our daily homicide analysis, you will see we have just four more homicides than at this time last year and are at or below where we were for the three years before that. Each of these killings is a tragedy, but I assure you that violence is not spiraling out of control. The murder rate in Kansas City has remained relatively constant for a number of years.

My No. 1 priority as chief has been to reduce violent crime. We have studied where crime is most likely to occur and have devoted a great deal of resources to those neighborhoods. About half of this year’s homicides have occurred in several defined areas or within a few blocks of them. Starting the first weekend of May, we pulled officers from all over the department to saturate these areas. Since that time, no killings have taken place in those communities with the exception of an officer-involved shooting.

We’ve also made a concentrated effort to get guns out of the hands of those who should not legally have them. Through the beginning of May, our Narcotics and Vice Division has recovered 208 percent more firearms than at this point last year. This includes 573 percent more assault weapons (74 vs. 11) and 131 percent more handguns (367 vs. 119) than at this point in 2011.

This enhanced enforcement activity has not led to the displacement of crime elsewhere. None of our data show that violence is moving to other areas.

The police cannot take all credit for this progress. The people living in these neighborhoods have really stepped up. They are cooperating with us more and are becoming less tolerant of crime where they live.

Enhanced cooperation between police and residents as well as more law enforcement resources in the areas that need them most means that summer – a time of typically higher violence – can be a time of peace and safety in Kansas City.


Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.

Hot spot policing is about more than just enforcing laws

I told you earlier about how we were stepping up police presence in hot spot areas where nearly half of the city's crime takes place. I wanted to show you that this doesn't necessarily mean just arresting a lot of people. It is equally important to build relationships and trust.

This past weekend, several officers bought popsicles and delivered them to children and families in one of the hot spots. They ended up getting engaged in a few games of street basketball. The officers lost three games in a row, but everyone had a good time. Those residents who were hanging out with the police were truly grateful that they're trying to make their neighborhood safer. The pictures below were taken by a sergeant on his cell phone.



Area command system deploying in Kansas City

Residents who live in “hot spot” areas should be seeing police presence stepped up in their neighborhoods. This weekend, we deployed additional resources on the streets as part of our area command system. We pulled officers and detectives from all over the department to staff the deployment. Some haven’t been out in the field for some time, but they have been put on special assignment to battle the scourge of violence in those areas.

I also have reassigned a Deputy Chief to oversee this deployment. He is the Designated Area Command Coordinator. His duties are, in part, bringing resources to the crime hot spot areas, monitoring activity in those areas and engaging department elements.

We experienced several successes with this deployment method over the weekend. In one incident, a suspect who had just shot somebody fled and was immediately apprehended by police who were in the area. That suspect has been charged.

The additional officers will answer 911 calls for service, but their primary goal is to proactively patrol these neighborhoods and deter violence. We want them to identify and arrest those who possess firearms illegally. We also want them to build trust with the law-abiding residents of these areas.

We know we are in the right place. More than 50 percent of this year’s homicides have occurred in two hot spot areas or within a couple blocks of them. This homicide phenomenon is not new, (in the last 40 years, there were just nine years in which Kansas City had fewer than 100 homicides), but this method of concentrating resources in a small area where we know crime is taking place is a new approach in our city.

I am concerned about the greater number of homicides so far this year compared to this time last year (39 vs. 27). Last year saw a spike of homicides in November, however, and we ended the year with 114. At this point in 2009, Kansas City had 41 homicides and ended the year with 110, which unfortunately, is about average. You can see that we are about on pace with the number of homicides in 2008, 2009 and 2010 by looking at our Daily Homicide Analysis. Just one homicide is one too many, however, and as you can see, police are doing everything they can to address violent crime.

In addition to more manpower, we’re deploying more technology. At a press conference on Friday, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver announced the partnership between the police department, Kansas City Area Transportation Authority and Federal Transit Administration to install ShotSpotter technology. This equipment will help police respond to the sound of gunshots much more quickly to apprehend shooters and assist victims.

This area command system is not a project or a program. It is the way we will do business: putting resources in the communities where they’re most needed. But police alone cannot prevent violence or homicides. The public must step up to decry the violence and cooperate with law enforcement. More and more have been doing that, which has led to increased clearance rates and dangerous people behind bars.

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.