You may be looking at the Kansas City crime problem all wrong, according to a local law enforcement expert.

“When people say that Kansas City has a violent crime problem, what they likely mean is that Jackson County has a violent crime problem,” Tye Grant, president & CEO of the Police Foundation of Kansas City, writes in a blog.

In other words, Kansas City and Jackson County aren’t one and the same. And that’s important to understand, he argues.

The city of Kansas City actually stretches across four different counties: Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass. Thus, the Kansas City Police Department must deal with four different counties’ criminal justice systems – as well as the differing outcomes that entails.

“This includes four different county prosecutors, juvenile systems, groups of judges, and county jail systems,” Grant writes. These varying public officials determine “who gets prosecuted for violent crimes, for property crimes, what charges are filed, bond amounts, who receives probation, jail capacity, and the effectiveness of programs intended to prevent crime or provide accountability.”

There’s even a fifth jurisdiction police must navigate: the municipal court of Kansas City, which lords over minor crimes and traffic violations. It’s the four counties that handle the serious crimes.

“This distinction between city and county responsibilities is essential to understanding how the prevention, intervention and accountability of crime is managed across Kansas City,” Grant writes.

Now consider where the bulk of the crime in Kansas City is taking place – which Grant says is Jackson County.

Period.

“In the last 4.5 years, as of late August,” Grant explains, “there have been 796 homicides in Kansas City. Of these, 767 occurred in Jackson County, representing over 96%. In other words, 29 of the 796 homicides took place in the northern portions of Kansas City.”

Moreover:

“Between January and August of this year, there were 420 shooting victims in Kansas City. Of these 420 shootings, 11 occurred within Clay and Platte Counties, while the other 409—more than 97%—were in Jackson County. …

“During the same period, there were 4,369 stolen autos reported in Jackson County compared to 542 in Clay and Platte Counties. …

“The reality is clear: the vast majority of Kansas City’s crime challenges are concentrated in Jackson County. Acknowledging this allows us to better focus our resources and discussions where they are most needed, rather than suggesting that all areas of the city face the same level of violent crime.”

So, how is Jackson County doing in handling the vast majority of crime in Kansas City? The Heartlander recently asked Tracey Chappell, a former municipal prosecutor in Blue Springs, practicing defense attorney and candidate for head prosecutor in Jackson County last month.

“I practice law in various counties, from Platte County to Clay to Cass, Buchanan, Andrew. I’m everywhere,” she told The Heartlander before the election. “And when I’m defending individuals, they’re telling me, ‘If I had committed this crime in Jackson County, I would be off right now. I would be maybe on probation or something right now, and it wouldn’t be a problem.’ 

“But other counties are prosecuting. That’s why they don’t have the level of crime that we do.”

As The Heartlander reported back then, Chappell even saw the problem of Jackson County’s failure to prosecute from her own prosecutor post in Blue Springs – when felony cases that should’ve been handled by outgoing Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s office landed on Chappell’s desk instead.

“We were getting so many felonies that came across our desk. I mean, it was astounding. And when I would ask the officers ‘why are we getting these felonies,’ they would seriously tell me that the Jackson County Prosecutor’s office refused to prosecute those property crimes.  

“The police officers wanted to make those individual criminals responsible, so they started sending them to the Municipal Court. And it wasn’t just Blue Springs. They are sending these felonies that the prosecutor’s office will not prosecute to every policing jurisdiction – I mean, every municipality, such as Kansas City, Grain Valley, Grandview, Independence, Raytown, Lee’s Summit. 

“Every head municipal court prosecutor complains about the felonies that they’re receiving [from Jackson County].”

Chappell argued a failure to prosecute even property crimes can lead to disaster – as in the murder this summer of Brookside restaurateur Shawn Brady, shot dead while trying to stop his car from being stolen.

Grant and Chappell both maintain that citizens need to understand who’s really in charge of putting criminals behind bars – and it isn’t necessarily police.

“You know, residents, they think that the police officers are the problem,” Chappell says. “And I’ve told them time and time again, the chief law enforcement officer, which is the Jackson County prosecutor, that is your leadership. And if your leadership is not prosecuting crime, everything falls from that.”