The Lykins Crime and Safety Forum offered opportunities for community connections. Third District Councilperson Melissa Robinson, Fai Beal, Angie Hicks- Curtis and representatives with KCPD and KCFD.
Photo by Dan Bethe

by Fai Beal
Special Contributor

This article is a follow up to the recent Crime and Safety Forum, hosted August 27th, by the Lykins Neighborhood Association at the North-East branch of the Kansas City Public Library. My name is Fai Beal and I am the secretary on the board of the association and edited and coordinated the forum with our executive director, Angie Hicks-Curtis.

Afterwards, I was asked a few questions in regards to the forum, specifically the questions and responses from our leaders. It is important to me that our residents understand we are working to find solutions to these critical problems facing them and their families. I also want you all to understand, you are not isolated, without voices, power or authority. The illusion would say otherwise currently. I am not blind to that fact.

Remember in all of this, the police can not be everywhere at all times, and they only react to crime. They don’t prevent it. We, the people, are the first line of defense in reducing crime. Trying to do it all is impossible for anyone- police, government, or any other entity. We have a responsibility to do our part, as much as the police department has a responsibility to respond or City Hall has a responsibility to listen and pass legislation to advance equitable laws, affordable housing and other needs. City government can’t pinpoint what every need or good build can be. We have to speak up. We, the residents, are the first line of teaching our youth how to regulate emotions and keeping watch on where they are, keeping weapons out of their hands, and getting help they need if we see something wrong. We, as residents, do have an obligation to check on our elderly neighbors and pick up trash on our sidewalks. The more we are out and connected, the fewer gaps remain for criminal activity to live in the dark and creep silently.

So how do you find your voice?

How can we have an effect and change the direction of the tracks, a massive train like Kansas City, is taking?

I have reflected on the previous five years I have spent digging my way deeper into civic work and how exactly a group or individual, such as myself, got to the point of not knowing how any city government works, to now having direct contact with the Mayor Pro-tem and Chief of Police. I want to share the ways you can begin to build your voice and power in our city and connect to leaders and problem solvers, rather than be left merely complaining without support.

Communicate Clearly

State the problem with minimal lengthy stories or explanations. Avoid blame games, finger pointing and therapy sessions. We all are tempted to play blame games and say “he did it” or “they did it” and she is responsible. A large percentage of the time, the causes of problems are just not that simple and neither are the solutions.

Communication Continuation

What does this mean? This means to listen. Really, actually, listen. Absorb the answers you are given and add the information to what you already know and be willing to be flexible and change your understanding of the situation to expand to the overall, larger picture that encompasses countless people, groups and economic classes and life experiences you have never been through. Listening is as much a part, or a larger part, of communication than speaking. Be willing to absorb new information and meld it into existing opinions and views you have. This will help both you and leaders think in new creative ways to find solutions instead of constantly just discussing the problem itself over and over.

Consistency

Our leaders are busy people. Even I can get bogged down in endless emails and a growing number of appointments and I am not a district representative or running an entire police force for a city! If you want to have an effect, you need to consistently show up where they are.

How can you do this?

Excellent question.

Neighborhood associations are a great way to vote and have consistent contact with city leadership. Your board is given a voice in City Hall. Participating in local groups and speaking up, tells them what to pass along. Other organizations such as Mattie Rhodes Center and Guadalupe Center assist families and have representatives who speak to city leadership. Join their meetings and volunteer opportunities to be heard. Tenants can have a united voice through KC Tenants. AIM for Peace and Mothers in Charge lead the way for violence reduction and assistance to victims of violence. Advocates for Immigrants Rights and Reconciliation (AIRR) is an organization that helps immigrants understand their rights and is advocating for more fair laws to be passed for them. If you begin to consistently show up, you can join a larger voice that is heard. Many of these organizations have representatives who speak at City Hall or advisory boards to city officials, on behalf of residents. You are being heard and represented, without having to be personally present at every meeting.

In a more direct route, the city hosts district meetings every month that are open to the public. There, you can directly meet your district council members. You can meet public works and city planner employees who make all the plans and take direct feedback from citizens. When you begin to consistently show up and participate, they will learn your name and you will be heard. Our leaders may not have the time to show up to every small meeting but they DO take the time to come meet us and when we consistently show up and communicate, we have the chance to make changes we need. Meet your Community Resource Officers and Fire Department at the Night Out Against Crime (second Tuesday in August) events, hosted in public parks across the city. Watch for them in your area, or hey, why not ask for one? Food, activities, and groups that are working to change the city will participate with police, health department, fire department, violence prevention, prizes, and other groups will gather for a few fun-packed hours of casual connection with important people you need to know!

There are anonymous ways to be involved too. Speak Easy KC chat online is a resident engagement website directly to anonymously voice specific ideas and feedback about projects or problems you face to city government by going to https://speakeasy.kcmo.gov. It is broken into topics or specific projects or neighborhoods and you can post direct feedback to the site city staff are logging and using for improvements. As one example, on my list of topics currently, is the Citywide Business Plan: Influencing The Budget. They are gathering feedback on how the current budget worked and what optimal changes might be, from the public. Other topics include, corridor plans, business developments, vacant lot upkeep, violence prevention, and much more which affects our daily lives. The more ideas and voices contribute, the more balanced a solution can be provided. Please, come join the conversation.

Call the 311 Action Center phone line, visit https://www.kcmo.gov/talk-to-us/mykcmo on the web, or use the app available in your mobile app store, (the app, if you are reading this Kansas City leadership, really needs work to be more user friendly). Here you can ensure pot holes get filled, signs get straightened, dumped trash gets picked up, and graffiti gets removed, or report that no one picked up your trash on trash day and arrange to have a special pick up. Help clean your area, reduce crime, and improve the health and safety of everyone around you with 311 KCMO.

Report drug activity and houses anonymously to Crimestoppers online at https://kccrimestoppers.com, by phone at (816) 474-8477, or the app available in your app store. Cash rewards are available for tips that lead to convictions. It is entirely anonymous and not connected to the police.

Do you just feel lost in the huge ocean that is civics and the beast that is Kansas City?

Me too, there is just so much to take in. So many departments and offices and regulations.

Sign up for, and attend, the Community Engagement University, where you tour vital city works like the water treatment plant, city hall, and much more. Learn the structure of the city government. Information available at: https://www.kcmo.gov/programs-initiatives/community-engagement-university

If you prefer to understand our Kansas City, Missouri police better, enroll in the Citizens Police Academy, available if you are a resident of, or work in, KCMO. Ride along with officers and have time to ask questions and delve deeper into how our policing-system really works. Learn public safety concepts, safety protocols, and how to better navigate the justice system for you and those you care about. Background check is required. Information available at: https://kcpolice.org/community/citizens-police-academy/

You can also find the email addresses of your council members at https://www.kcmo.gov/city-hall/city-officials/city-council-members. Follow the links to reach out to their assistants by email or phone. Be consistent and communicate concisely.

Come with Course Corrections

When communicating, do not simply complain, have some ideas to correct the course. Another way to say this: try to offer solutions or ideas for part of the solution. Offer a way you can partner with them to find the solution if you don’t have an idea. Leaders know the issues. We know teenage violence is out of control. Car theft is on the rise. Offer ways you can push for mentors or help find programs or write grants for programs to help youth. Only you truly know your time and talents, find a way to leverage them and offer partnership and help with the problems you are communicating about. There are thousands of problems, what leaders need are help and solutions, even a simple partial idea of a solution can make the dam break and be a catalyst for true change, when given to the right people who have the connections. Share them and be willing to fight for the solution.

Complete Communication

Every leader has a different communication style. They may need a follow up in writing of what you spoke about. A day or two after you attend your district meeting, go ahead and send an email to your council representative stating, “Reminder of what we discussed at District 3 meeting.” Leaders are so busy, as I have already stated, and it is usually a great relief to not only receive ideas and solutions, but to get reminders and have them in writing to refer to or add to files for future use! The easier and faster you make communication and referencing your communication, the more they will want to communicate with you for future projects.

Copyedit your Communications

When we are talking about subjects that can be difficult because they affect our lives so strongly, it is easy to just react and communicate poorly. To prepare for the Crime and Safety Forum we held, I personally spent about eight full hours pouring over the questions our residents presented they wanted asked. I edited and separated them into topics. I wrote an introduction to the forum to set expectations for empathy and decency. We were there to look for solutions, not rant and complain.

While editing the questions, I found we had not broken them into enough topics originally. Wording was too aggressive, it needed to show the more cooperative spirit the forum was aiming for. Many questions related only to the residents of our particular neighborhood and needed to be more broad to include greater Northeast and Kansas City. It is worth taking the time to reflect on tone and the true intent and message in your question. Whether it is attacking or truly seeking an answer and solution is a massive distinction and incredibly important to leaders. They are able to work with people seeking partnership and cooperation. They are not able to help people there to simply attack them.

Maybe you are reading this and asking, well, Fai, then what solutions did you all find?

I am happy you asked!

Mayor Pro-tem Rayna Parks-Shaw heard that people ages 18 to 21 can not be police officers, but they can be Corrections Facility Officers. If the precincts had more of these correction officers we could open up from only twenty-four holding cells to closer to sixty. She can create a job fair for youth, with jobs that have full benefits and may help them stay out of criminal activity.

We received the news that to increase numbers of 911 call operators and reduce wait times, the staff have been given raises and they have begun providing childcare for them, as a majority are single mothers. Many are still in training and they are working to hire more.

One resident has been struggling with a home known to have criminal activity and we got confirmation that it is being investigated.

Nick Allen with Street Outreach and Josh Henges with Houseless Prevention of KCMO have seen success building relationships with large encampments of unhoused in KC. Recently, of the camps Allen has cleared, 70 to 100% of the people have been housed and received support services needed to begin supporting full life changes, such as healthcare, mental healthcare and food resources. This is a staggeringly high rate of success. We celebrated that they just had to hire more staff due to the success of the program.

One gentleman brought a bag full of bullet casings picked up from Kessler Park. We discussed ways to gate and lock the park up in the evening to reduce gun fire because it is late at night when the majority of shots are fired.

There is a task force facing down domestic abuse violence, as it is rising. Mayor Pro-tem Parks-Shaw advocated for and is helping support. It is helping reduce victims returning to domestic violence situations and educating on signs of abuse, traumatized victims, and how to help those trapped in that situation. It is also working with police on better training as it is on the rise.

Mattie Rhodes Center’s Parate X Pas representatives, who intervene with people on the road to a life in prison, discussed all the ways they utilize to redirect people from a life of bad choices. They are successful in building relationships and helping them learn to change their decision making processes and turn their life to something productive and give them coping and life skills.

We were informed the new Jackson County Prosecutor, Melesa Johnson, is planning to allow more action against drug houses, trespassing on property, and prosecution of houseless individuals who repeatedly refuse help and create a danger to the public. She has not been in office long enough to have passed down new ordinances and implementations to the police levels, to ensure protocols are in place for public safety, that all measures taken are legal, and allow the district attorney to prosecute. The police and council members at the forum, in their opinions, are expecting positive changes from the ability to take stronger, more definitive actions, and prosecute more strongly.

The best solution though? You need to be involved, in some way. Community gardens, teaching art, talking to a teenager or an elderly neighbor who doesn’t have much help. Retired nurse? Teach some basic first aid or signs of a stroke or heart attack. Do you understand how to navigate the internet? So many groups need help with social media. You are valuable. You have something that matters.

Communicate it and connect.