Crime Slightly Down In Parkville

      Crime rates in Parkville, Mo., slightly decreased in 2010, according to the city’s uniform crime report.  The report’s data indicate crime is slightly down in what is already considered the safest city in the metro area.

“As of February 2010, Parkville was selected the safest city in the greater Kansas City area according to crime stats from the last three years,” said Parkville Police Chief Kevin Chrisman.

This isn’t to say the city is crimeless, but crime has fallen slightly in several areas. Across the board crime has decreased in areas including vandalism, assault and the city’s biggest crime, larceny.

 Larceny is the biggest crime in Parkville with an average of 138 incidents per year over the last three years.  In 2009 there were 165 cases of larceny reported compared to 138 cases in 2010. This includes all property theft, shoplifting and motor vehicle theft. 

 The most popular form of larceny committed in Parkville is shoplifting from retailers. Shoplifting decreased from 67 instances in 2009 to 65 in 2010, however it still remains steady.

“We wouldn’t have many thefts if it wasn’t for shoplifting,” Chrisman said. “Throughout this past year there were several times where I had the same suspect that had committed as many as four or five at one time or within the same day.”

Chrisman also explained a trend that seems to be present in the recent shopliftings, and the results show that people may be hurting for necessities.

“It has been a bad year with the economy,” Chrisman said. “The things people are taking in most cases are the necessities of life that people take for granted…they just can’t afford it.”

Thefts from unlocked vehicles in retail parking lots and from neighborhoods also account for many incidents. In most cases items are in plain sight and become crimes of opportunity.  Chrisman says a lot of these crimes could be prevented.

“We could reduce theft in this city tremendously,” Chrisman said. “We always encourage people to lock doors, and you should always keep valuables under the seat or in the trunk. Thieves want to reap a benefit so if they look in and see a GPS or a laptop they know they will reap a value.”

Another property crime, vandalism, also decreased slightly in 2010 with 46 instances in 2009 compared to 29 reported in 2010. This could be due partially to no reported incidents on Halloween, which in Parkville usually yields some minor offenses.  Chrisman accounts the decrease on Halloween to two things.

“Bike patrols were out that evening in the community,” said Chrisman. “ I would like to think that had a big part of deterring crime that evening,  but the community also looks out for each other and they are not afraid to report crime to us.”

Crime on the Park University Campus is also very minor. Some reports of trespassing happen around the dorms. Many times students lock keys in their vehicles but the Police Department doesn’t have any major concerns with crime on campus for several reasons.

“I have a great relationship with the security director there,” said Chrisman. “Park University is a very disciplined campus and the students are very pleasing, the security personnel l there are also very proactive and visible.

Although there has been general decrease in Parkville’s crime, some of the more serious crimes have remained steady or slightly risen. Assault declined slightly from 32 reports in 2009 to 30 in 2010. Burglary was up with 18 reports in 2010 compared to the previous three year average of 13. Not all of the burglaries were forced entries, and some are still under investigation.

Parkville’s first homicide in 15 years occurred in July 2010 involving two young men in a dispute over girl. Although Parkville doesn’t see many homicides the  crime was solved quickly.

“We had solved it in several hours in conjunction with the Riverside Police Department,” Chrisman said. “They assisted me with the investigation.”

Crime predictions for next year cannot be made as crime is very unpredictable, but the Parkville Police Department will continue to take measures to prevent crime in the future.

“It’s tough to predict what the outcome s will be, “Chrisman said. “My effort to control crime will be really diligent. It’s maintaining a highly proactive presence in the community as well as getting the community to assist us in locking their doors to reduce crimes of opportunity.”