Waldo, Brookside residents want action on rising thefts. KC police say it’s complicated

When Ruth Ramsey’s Kia was stolen from her driveway just east of Kansas City’s Waldo neighborhood on June 23, her response was to pick up her severed door handle, seal it in a plastic bag and bring it to the nearest police station.

Ramsey hoped having some hard evidence would help police make an arrest in the theft, one of many dozens reported near the Waldo and Brookside neighborhoods of Kansas City in recent months.

More than six weeks later, Ramsey says she hasn’t heard back from investigators at all. She knows exactly where her car is, though. It was found totaled nearby three days after it was stolen.

“They totaled my car, and then I hear the word on the street is, ‘[Police] know who it is, they’re juveniles,’” Ramsey said. “‘Okay, you know who they are, so let’s do something about it.’”

After a summer of spiking car thefts and other crimes in south Kansas City, Ramsey and her neighbors want to know why vehicle and property crimes in the area go unsolved — or unprosecuted. About 200 Waldo and Brookside residents and business owners shared these concerns with police and community leaders at a meeting at Research Medical Center’s Brookside campus Wednesday night.

Theft, understaffing and emergency response time

So far this year, 376 cars have been stolen in the Metro Patrol Division of the Kansas City Police Department, which includes Waldo and Brookside, according to police data. In the same time frame, 121 property crimes were reported in the area.

Property crime in the area, including vehicle theft, has been on the rise since 2021, officers shared Wednesday. Auto theft has been occurring more frequently this summer than this time last year, with 79 cars reported stolen in June and 86 in July.

While many residents came hoping to discuss solutions, much of Wednesday’s meeting was devoted to discussing the reasons crime might be spiking.

The Metro Patrol Division has lost a quarter of its staff in the last fifteen years, Capt. Justin Pinkerton, who works in hiring and human resources for the Kansas City Police Department, said Wednesday. Fewer than 1100 people staff the division today, down from 1450 in 2008, with about 60-70 retirements per year.

“Take roughly 25% away from the workforce of any organization, anybody, it’s going to detract from the product,” Pinkerton said. “...We’re not saying that’s acceptable, but we also only have this much staff to deal with that big of a problem. We can only do so much and the calls just keep coming.”

Understaffing also leads to longer 911 wait times. When all officers in an area are tied up with high call volume, or when everyone is busy with priority response to cases of injury or death, officers are sent from other jurisdictions up to half an hour away, a KCPD officer who also works as a dispatcher shared Wednesday.

About half of those in attendance Wednesday indicated they had called 911 within the past year, often facing long wait times .

‘Nobody goes to jail’

Residents at Wednesday’s meeting asked what it would take to prosecute more property crimes once reported, or to intervene with repeat offenders more effectively. Many residents feel that auto theft and similar crimes do not make it to court often enough, even if police are able to identify a suspect.

“Kansas City is known for football, and for no prosecution,” Brookside resident Tom Prudden said Wednesday. “Nobody goes to jail.”

Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said her department is able to prosecute about 80% of the cases that come their way, including property crimes. However, she said, one police report doesn’t always provide enough information to build a case or hold someone on bond.

“We feel these stories and we hear them regularly,” Peters Baker said. “But when it comes to arresting people and holding them, we don’t set expectations we can’t meet under the law.”

Dan Barry, a Jackson County family attorney, agreed, but noted juvenile courts are more likely to prioritize prosecuting violent and lethal crimes.

Police did acknowledge that existing crisis intervention strategies are not as effective in stopping auto thefts committed by groups of teens, one of the neighborhoods’ main issues.

Juvenile thieves tend to work in groups and aren’t necessarily financially motivated, KCPD crime analyst BJ Kidd said. In some circles across Kansas City, car theft — especially Kia theft — has become trendy, with residents of all ages referring to groups of recent culprits as “Kia Boys.”

““This Kia stealing trend has been popularized, it’s the hip thing to do,” Kidd said. “...It is a cool thing to post a social media video with all your weapons, bragging about how many shootings you’ve been in while driving a stolen car at a high speed. It’s an interconnected network.”

Missouri’s juvenile justice system is geared more towards resources and reform than toward punishment, Peters Baker said. However, creating effective interventions for teens can be tricky, especially when appeals to their parents fail, Kidd said.

““Is it a fact that many of these juvenile offenders are committing crimes because they don’t have a safe environment? Yes,” Kidd said. “But is offering them a safe environment that we think is fun and attractive actually going to drive them away from a life of crime?”

‘We’re hurting... And we’re afraid’

KCPD Sgt. Michael Vulje said Wednesday that the department has identified the most recent group of car thieves. But some residents feel that isn’t enough.

Prudden, who lives in Brookside, says two of his cars have been stolen from near his home. In one case, he saw someone else driving his car down the street two days later and chased him down. Prudden was among many who felt left without solutions after the meeting. To Prudden, safety concerns in his neighborhood mirror a trend toward higher crime across Kansas City.

“It felt like it was pretty much a waste of time,” Prudden said. “If there’s going to be a difference made, it’s going to be up to us as citizens.”

A retired police officer who worked in the area for 26 years, Prudden said he’s used to seeing reported break-ins go unprosecuted in the area, even if an arrest is made.

“I could wallpaper my wall with all the yellow sheets I got from the prosecutor’s office on property crimes,” Prudden said. “If these officers could speak freely, they would tell the prosecutor that she’s blowing smoke, because they know that more often than not, they don’t prosecute crime.”

Vulje and Peters Baker recommended Wednesday that residents avoid engaging if they see cars being stolen, but that they make note of identifying features like tattoos or scars and collect video evidence whenever possible.

In addition, small businesses in both Waldo and Brookside have built phone tree networks to keep each other informed about break-ins and vandalism in retail districts.

Meanwhile, Ramsey said she wished finding solutions to trends in vehicle theft was a bigger fiscal priority for the city.

“I just wish that the powers that be in Kansas City would take all of this more seriously,” Ramsey said. “Because we’re hurting. We, the people who are the taxpayers, are hurting. And we’re afraid.”