KCPD considering changing hours of police officers after multiple robberies
Jan 14, 2025
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The Kansas City Police Department alluded to potentially changing the hours of police officers work after at least two businesses were broken into Sunday morning.
The Board of Police Commissioners (BoPC) held its monthly meeting Tuesday morning.
Police Chief Stacey Graves says KCPD's reinstituted their summer entertainment plan to try to make sure they have more officers in the downtown corridor even in these winter months, but the Sunday crimes at La Bodega and Seven Swans Creperie may have been outside the timeframe that KCPD had extra patrols in the area.
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In a conversation with reporters after the public portion of the BoPC meeting, Chief Graves said KCPD extended the hours that officers work in the overnight period to try to prevent stolen cars, even in these winter months.
"I can't help but to think our presence down here did deter some of the crime that has been occurring at the times we're here," she said to reporters. "I guess we're going to have to adjust again."
Chief Graves and Mayor Quinton Lucas were both asked about the Facebook post La Bodega made early Sunday afternoon, saying it's the third time in the last six weeks they've been broken into.
"The city and the leadership MUST make immediate changes or lose all of their retail and restaurants," part of the Facebook post read.
"I'm absolutely concerned that businesses would find it an inhospitable place to do business in Kansas City," Mayor Lucas said Tuesday. "I have very real concern with that. I have concern with residents who say the same thing."
New Democratic Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson says she's starting a property crimes division within her office that's staffed with attorneys and law students, but it will take time to find those peoeple.
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"We are working directly with different districts in Jackson County," Johnson said to the BoPC Tuesday. "Prosecutors are being assigned to those districts because the security guards at these districts know who the frequent flyers are and therefore, exchanging that information in real time allows us to prioritize prosecution of those prolific offenders."
Chief Graves says 40 new KCPD officers start Jan. 27.