By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
October 5, 2011

Michelle Wycoff’s daughter suddenly collapsed in her arms while they waited at the Walgreens urgent care clinic. Twenty-month-old Emma began seizing and her temperature continued to climb.

Eight minutes later an ambulance arrived.

Thankfully, Emma fully recovered, Wycoff said, but she questioned the ambulance’s response time.

“There was a fire station two blocks from us (Walgreens at Barry and North Oak). They (ambulance) could have been there in three minutes,” she told committee members during the Sept. 28 Public Safety and Emergency Services Committee meeting. “I don’t care where you live in the city, it’s not acceptable.”

Wycoff, who worked as a Kansas City police officer for ten years, said she understands response times. And she knows the outcome that day at Walgreens could have easily ended in heartache.

“While you’re waiting to do a plan, people are going to suffer,” she said.

She also pointed out that fire stations in the Northland are poorly located, which hinder response times.

Committee chair John Sharp thanked Wycoff for testifying.

“Fire stations in the Northland were built before the area was developed,” he said. “So, the fire stations we have in the Northland aren’t necessarily in the right places to have quick responses for fires or emergency services.

“There’s certainly a big gap in the northeast part of the Northland where we do experience some of the most long calls. We do take this very seriously.

“I think we all feel that all residents of the city, no matter where they live, deserve the right to survive if they suffer a medical emergency.”

Committee members are currently evaluating the emergency services system and how to make improvements.

Paperless case management system deemed success, saves city thousands

City employees noted a few glitches, but overall, the paperless case management system has been deemed a success, said John Franklin, assistant to the city manager.

Several entities switched over to the new system Aug. 29 and included the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri, Kansas City Municipal Court, the Kansas City Police Department and all enforcement agencies of Kansas City.

KCPD and other enforcement agencies can now issue tickets electronically, which are automatically transferred to the court system via a handheld device. Instead of using paper files at the courthouses, judges, lawyers and others in the court system can use computers to instantly access files like court dockets and tickets. Before the launch, it could take up to an hour to physically locate a file, Franklin said. With the automated system, the Kansas City Municipal Court has been able to eliminate 19 full-time positions and five part-time positions, saving the court an estimated $300,000 this fiscal year and $1 million a year thereafter.

“This was a major transformation,” Franklin said. “We haven’t really hit the full benefits of the system. We’re going to learn each day different ways this technology can help us move (forward).”

In addition, visitors can now use www.kcmo.org/court to ask about a court case, find a ticket number and the fine amount, pay online and look up a court date.

Committee to address graffiti, prostitution

While the city is working on its Violent Crime Commission, 1st District City Council member Scott Wagner is working on another crime initiative. Wagner updated the public safety committee on the ad hoc task force he organized to address gateway crimes like graffiti, prostitution and drug dealing.

Stakeholders on the committee include Sharp, the city council, city manager’s office, mayor’s office, Kansas City Police Department, Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, state legislators, among other entities.

“There’s no question that homicides and violence are issues in Kansas City,” Wagner told Northeast News. “I have great hopes for the Violent Crime Commission… but part of what creates that violent crime is everything else that leads up to it.

“There’s a pipeline. It doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There are things that lead to it (more serious, violent offenses).

“The person who is committing the violent crime, who may be 18, 19, 20 years old, is recruiting the sixteen and fifteen-year-olds, who are in turn recruiting the eight and nine-year-olds.

“There has to be a recognition that there is this pipeline that continues and these gateway crimes open up that pipeline.”

If Kansas City fails to address these gateway crimes, the city will continue to face the same violent crime issues, he said.

The committee is meeting every three weeks to form a plan of action to address non-violent crimes and will introduce the plan at the end of the year, he said. Then, the committee will begin implementation.