Northeast News
October 7, 2015

To The Editor:

The tragic loss of the mother of six children and the murder of a child by his own mother, meetings with police department leadership and discussions with other residents have caused me to reflect on the crime in Historic Northeast that has plagued us for many years.

I realize that there is crime all over the city and that overall crime in Historic Northeast has declined considerably under the leadership of Major Rick Smith and the officers of East Patrol, but that doesn’t make me feel better and it has forced me to look deeper. Maybe your readers can help me find the answers I am looking for. When will the prosecution side of crime change so that defendants don’t constantly delay their trials or plead out of jail on a lesser crime when in fact so many of them are perpetual career criminals? When will Historic Northeast be more than a dot on a map in the prosecutor’s office, so that she takes us and our crime and our cries for help seriously? I voted for her to work with, and for, this community to change the paradigm of crime. I don’t want to see her photo ops on TV — I want her to answer my phone calls and come to a meeting to help us find solutions. The police department and city manager do that — why doesn’t she?

Why do I have to track the status of court cases and spend so much time advocating to insure that the criminals get put in jail and stay there for more than a few hours? Why isn’t it just standard operating procedure that if you are on drugs and commit a crime, you stay in jail long enough to get off drugs and receive consequences for your bad behavior? Why is this city/county down 350 beds from the razing of the municipal farm with no apparent strategy to find funding to either adequately treat or incarcerate the criminals?

Where was the Mayor, who I voted for twice, and the prosecutor when six children were left without a mother and the family and community cried? I have seen him on TV in other parts of the city speaking out against gun violence and stating that something must be done in those communities. What about us? I know that the Mayor and Prosecutor have been seen together praising the results of Kansas City No Violence Alliance [KC NoVA] on violent crime where NoVA is in place, which isn’t in Historic Northeast.

So what are we supposed to do about crime? Yes, we have a strong block watch program in Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood. Yes, we are growing the block watch programs in other neighborhoods. Yes, East Patrol staff are tremendous resources, but they don’t have enough police officers to cover the miles they must protect. Where are the Mayor, the County Prosecutor, the City Council and anyone else when it comes to caring about getting us adequate police coverage and caring about the 30,000 plus residents in Historic Northeast? Somehow they all find money for projects they support. Why aren’t the loss of this mother in a gang shootout, the loss of children and fathers in acts of revenge, and career burglars who put innocent residents in harm’s way enough to change the way things are done in this city and county?

And what about us, Historic Northeast residents? Aren’t we our brother’s keepers? When will we use the time we spend on Facebook tearing down and criticizing each other, posting endless photos of abused dogs and lost cats (I have and love a dog and two cats), showing everyone where and what we are eating, or posting about suspicious behavior but never calling the police to report it, to benefit the community?

You don’t have to go to a meeting, if that isn’t up your alley. You can be a block watch captain. You can organize a block party. You can anonymously tweet the codes violations on that house you suspect being used for illegal activity. Drug dealers don’t like it when their landlords start hanging around, fixing codes violations. You can report the tall weeds and trash being dumped in front of vacant properties which get used by drug dealers and prostitutes and they don’t like it when the city inspector comes around and gets public works out in front of the house hauling away junk. It interferes with their business. You can call the prosecutor’s and county executive’s offices and tell them you are tired of not counting. You can show up at the ballot box and speak with your vote.

Will all the people posting on Facebook all day just go back to posting like nothing ever happened or will they get up and do something? Will they advocate for more dollars for the police department and more mental health and drug treatment dollars? Will they call their city and county leaders? Will they register to vote and get off their couch and vote for elected officials that actually care about Historic Northeast when the time comes? If we would vote, we could get the attention of all those who ignore us now because we currently don’t sway elections with our minimal voter turnout. Will residents stop voting down every single tax increase that pays for the police and the mental health services and the infrastructure that we need because the reality is, those services cost money.

Will we be a voice of change for this community or will we continue on our path and wringing our hands when the next innocent mother or child is killed, say isn’t that sad and then post a picture of the glass of wine we are drinking while we watch a crime show on Netflix and let real life crime happen just outside our door?

Contact your neighborhood president if you want to take back Historic Northeast:

president@scarrittkc.org – Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood

president.imna@gmail.com – Indian Mound Neighborhood

TomRiberaHNE@gmail.com – Independence Plaza Neighborhood Council

LykinsKC@gmail.com or Dave.A.Shuck@gmail.com – Lykins Neighborhood

jessica@pendletonheights.org – Pendleton Heights Neighborhood

markdiscgolf@yahoo.com – Mark Morales of Sheffield Neighborhood

Leslie Caplan,

President of Scarrit Renaissance Neighborhood Association and Northeast resident