KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Starting Thursday night at 10 p.m., the River Market will have a strong and visible security force. Along with it, there will also be a new phone number to call for assistance. “Anyone is encouraged to call (816) 421-5243 day or night, if they witness suspicious activity, are involved in a crime, have a noise complaint, get locked out of their apartment, need a safety escort from their building or car or see disorderly conduct,” the Downtown Council of Kansas City shared. This new effort is in partnership with nearly all the major property owners representing about thirty properties in the River Market. The River Market Community Improvement District (RMCID) has contracted with Signal Security for these services. Thieves hit metro Public Storage unit for nearly $100k worth of items The RMCID says within its analysis of reported crimes, in the River Market, over the last year, there has been a steady increase in theft, from auto crimes to burglaries, and most of the reported crimes happened in the hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. "They are 5-minute smash-and-grabs, and those things are awfully hard to defend against,” Sean O’Bryne, the Executive Director of the River Market Community Improvement District said. O’Byrne says the Community Improvement District is an entity created to provide a clean and attractive environment. In the 32-block area, the security officers will be checking in on all parking lots and other areas. Two officers will be in marked cars and one will be patrolling on foot. Their hours of patrolling will be from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. CID Ambassadors for the area work the area starting at 6 a.m. and finish by 10. This will be the other side of the 24-hour security. "We worked with a majority of the property owners, that own residential buildings, and shops, and worked together to really consolidate the security dollars they were spending, and put it into a targeted effort, which will provide basically a nighttime police force to work with the police department,” O’Byrne shared. "I’m thankful for ownership of this area taking it upon themselves through the CID to increase the amount of security we have, in the time of which it is needed,” Business Owner Matt Shatto, of Betty Rae’s, shared with FOX4 Thursday. "Betty Rae’s, here in the River Market, was hit twice in 2024, November and December." There were just 45 days in between those two instances, Shatto shared. "Ever since we got broken into the first time, we have been calling for the City specifically to be more proactive to help stop crime, not reactive to the idea once it occurs,” Shatto said. FOX4 informed Shatto Thursday about Mayor Quinton Lucas' proposal for additional funding for similar efforts as well. Mayor Lucas is presenting a $1 million investment. The proposal is for additional off-duty law enforcement to support Kansas City businesses. The Mayor’s Office says Ordinance 250044 would fund extra security services in City business districts through collaboration with regional law enforcement agencies.  Areas for additional enforcement, the Mayor’s Office says, will include: 18th & Vine   Central Business Districts (Downtown, Crossroads, and River Market)  Country Club Plaza   Westport  Zona Rosa  FOX4 learned from the Mayor's Office that "the funds would be outside and in addition to regular Kansas City Polie Department budgeted funding." Shatto invites Mayor Lucas to the River Market to discuss the crime that’s happened there. "I hope that what he (Mayor Lucas) says (his 1-mil proposal) is something he is willing to get behind and push,” Shatto said. “We will protect small businesses in Kansas City and this is one step in that regard,” Mayor Lucas shared. KC man pleads guilty to calling in false threat at government building Mayor Lucas says he knows there is a real property crime issue. “I know our police department right now is working its best to address those issues. There are always staffing challenges, but we need to make sure we address those issues,” Mayor Lucas said Thursday. “Our preference, as a City, is that we typically hire licensed officers in the state of Missouri that will continue to be what our focus is. We think that uniform is very important, with respect to all of our private security partners and a lot of Community Improvement Districts do that work, but for us, I think this is us saying we need to have a stop gap. Before we can hire up enough officers, before we can do all the other work we need to, we need to make sure we have a strong prevention presence. That’s why you are seeing this commitment, in addition to the many other things the City has funded.” The City says, Ordinance 250044, would approve funding and authorize the City Manager to negotiate security services agreements for the use of off-duty police officers and sheriff’s deputies.Ordinance 250044 is scheduled to be heard Tuesday, January 28 at 10:30 a.m. in the City Council Chambers.