Homicides are down for the year and disruptive youths have not hit the Country Club Plaza recently, police reported THursday.
Major Shawn Wade, commander of Midtown’s Central Patrol, reported to the city council public safety committee:
There have been 18 homicides citywide this year, down from 27 at this time last year. Three of those were in Central Patrol area compared to five last year.
In 2012, there were seven in central patrol at this time, but Wade added, “I’m not real quick to tout anything because they can turn around.”
There have been no major youth incidents in the Plaza since police made three arrests there about six weeks ago, he said.
Councilman John Sharp, chairman of the committee, praised recent coordination of police crime analysts from different patrol areas for discovering a series of road shootings since March 8.
Some have criticized police for not telling the public sooner about what police now say are about 20 shootings. They were mainly on highways – especially the Grandview Triangle – and two people were shot in the leg and one in the arm.
Most shots involved bullet holes in cars and links between them would have been hard to establish without coordinated analysts, Sharp said.
The shootings, except for one into a Leawood house, mostly happened near highway ramps or road splits, where the shooter’s car could veer away.
Police and federal agents are investigating.
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