Paul Thompson
Northeast News

Historic Northeast volunteers hit the streets last weekend for a neighborhood canvassing event designed to curb violent crime in the area.

Dozens of volunteers from the Kansas City Police Department, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, and Northeast neighborhood associations gathered at Northeast Middle School on the morning of Saturday, March 10 to participate in the community canvassing event. The outreach event – which saw small groups fan door-to-door throughout the Northeast to get face time with neighbors, offer contact numbers for authorities, and distribute information about available social services – was the result of several weeks of planning and a handful of public meetings between Kansas City No Violence Alliance (KC NoVA) partners and concerned Northeast residents.

The Northeast News embedded with Team 3 – consisting of Detective Zach Storms (KCPD Gang Unit), Detective Von Burns (KC NoVA), Jim Frazzell (Indian Mound), Celeste Michelson (Indian Mound), Brittany Strohm (KC NoVA analyst), and Leila Jeylani (Somali interpreter) – which primarily canvassed the 600 block of Spruce, just south of Independence Avenue.

So what brought the members of Team 3 out in support of their community on March 10?

“I’m interested in my neighborhood, and being part of building a good, strong beautiful neighborhood,” said Michelson.

“The other night, there were at least 40 gun shots that I heard from my bedroom,” added Frazzell. “It is crazy, and I just happened to have seen a thing in the Northeast News about this meeting.”

Assistant Prosecutor Jordan Bergus said his attendance at Saturday’s canvassing event was purely voluntary, noting that he considers those types of outings to be part of his duty to serve the community.

“We work as public servants, and our goal is to serve the community the best we can. My hope is that I can help the community in the courtroom, and outside of it as well,” said Bergus. “Trying to make some positive change in neighborhoods that need our attention is something that we should all want to do.”

To Bergus, the time spent with community members – both those who participated in the canvass and those who opened their doors to the volunteers – is invaluable.

“Activities like this are essential,” Bergus said. “People need to see that the police, the prosecutors, and the government in general are part of the community, and we do have one common goal; and that’s to make everyone’s life better. I’m all for it. Every time that we get them scheduled I’ll be back out.”

Detective Von Burns of KC NoVA told the Northeast News that the outreach event proved that neighbors in the Northeast are in need of assistance with a variety of city services.

“There’s a few elderly neighbors that need police services, that need some assistance with city services. They just want to be heard, and I think it’s our job to get out there and find out want their needs are so that we can assist them and make it better for them,” Burns said. “I think there are a lot of great people in this community that want to see the Northeast continue to thrive and have the successes that it’s had in the past.”

East Patrol Division Captain Ryan Mills took an active role in the planning and execution of the community canvass. On Saturday, he even took time to play a bit of basketball with neighborhood kids. To Mills, the outreach event proved once again that Northeast neighborhoods are some of the most engaged in Kansas City.

“I’m excited to see a lot of people here, but I expected exactly that,” Mills said. “Any time we’ve asked for help from the community in this part of town, it’s always been an overwhelming response. That’s exactly what today was.”