Police chief calls for broader effort against murder 

forteAs more homicides unfold in Kansas City, Police  Chief Darryl Forte today called for more effort to stop them.

There were 109 people killed last year, the most since 2011 and a big jump from 81 in 2014.

And there have already been eight homicides this year.

Forte talked fast to the Board of Police Commissioners, veered between points and  seemed frustrated.

“I’m tired of the carnage as well as the lack of urgency,” he said.

Murder numbers went up even more last year in many other cities and some experts suggest ties to questionable police killings of blacks in Ferguson and elsewhere.

Forte said that 75 percent of the violent crime in the city happens from St. John Avenue to 85th street, Troost to Topping avenues.

The generally poor area includes hundreds of abandoned houses, strewn trash and other social problems, he said.

Police are asking for 60 more officers but maybe they should ask for 55 and five more city demolition workers, he said.

He suggested demolishing troublesome houses quickly by explosives or fire.

He also said that under him police are changing their approach toward citizens there from the historic one based on instilling fear to one based on respect.

Police also need to show their humanity with more community involvement, he said.

“It’s not us versus them,” he said, “we’re like everyone else.”

Forte said efforts by the Kansas City No Violence Alliance would continue.

The group that uses police intelligence to target group-related offenders is credited with reducing those homicides in 2014, but last year there were more of those, more domestic violence murders, more killing in general.

One Comment

  1. Billy says:

    The Ferguson Effect is complete speculation. Correlation is not causation.

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