Michael Bushnell

The Kansas City, Mo., Police Department (KCPD) has released some preliminary numbers in relation to celebratory gunfire this year on New Year’s Eve and the numbers represent a dramatic decrease in terms of calls for service and ShotSpotter activations.

Between 6 p.m. on December 31, 2021 through 6 a.m. on January 1, 2022 there were 259 Sounds of Shots calls for service city wide, 207 of which were in the city’s urban core patrol zones, Metro, Central and East. ShotSpotter recorded 174 incidents, totaling 1,162 rounds recorded.  

Two reports have been taken from people being shot, one in the South Patrol Division (SPD) and one in Metro Patrol Division (MPD). Eleven property damage reports have been filed so far, five in MPD, three in SPD and one each in Central, East and North.

KCPD Spokesperson Officer Donna Drake said, “While we are happy there was less celebratory gunfire this year than last year, we wish there would have been no celebratory gunfire. We are thankful to all those who may have prevented others from participating in this act.”

KCPD also reported that one of its vehicles was struck by celebratory gunfire in MPD.  Overall, this year ShotSpotter recorded 1,162 rounds of gunfire this year versus last year’s 1,623. That represents a roughly 30% decrease in ShotSpotter incidents this year. Sounds of Shots calls for service also dropped by roughly 25% over the same time period.