Kansas City Police Department changes the way it investigates some crimes

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Police Department announced Sunday it has changed its approach when it comes to property crimes investigations.

The department will no longer investigate certain crimes based on patrol division. Instead, the crimes will be handled by specialized units within the department. The new approach will allow the Property Crimes Unit to take charge of the investigations city-wide.

“Beginning in mid-September, the Property Crimes Unit shifted from a generalized approach at each Patrol Division to a citywide approach comprised of an Auto Crimes Section, a Burglary Section, and a Stealing Section,” Sgt. Jake Becchina said. “The Economic Crimes Section, which has operated under specialization for years, did not change and will remain in the Property Crimes Unit.”

The change provides some advantages, including the following:

• Allows the specialized section to focus on patterns and prolific offenders who are responsible for committing the bulk of property crimes.
• Allows for easier identification of patterns and prolific offenders citywide; something that is more difficult to establish using the current Division Boundaries.
• Gives the opportunity to prioritize staffing specific to certain crime trends.
• Other agencies have found that specialization has led to more convictions and greater sentences for offenders than generalization due to the detective’s expertise in their field and through working closely with prosecutors assigned specifically to their section.
• Specialized detectives can build more effective, long-standing relationships with the citizen groups they serve. For instance, Stealing Section detectives will work closely with the largest retail chains in the city to establish training and best practices to reduce shoplifting.
• Detectives can seek out specialized training specific to their field.

The department also said offices and locations of investigators’ offices will remain unchanged. However, they will now be grouped together with other offense-specific detectives.

There’s new contact information for the public if they want to contact an investigator:

• Auto Crimes Section at 816-413-3406/3412
• Burglary Crimes Section at 816-413-3430
• Stealing Crimes Section at 816-413-3435
• Economic Crimes Section 816-413-3431