For the first time in two years, Kansas City leaders reported an overall decrease in violent crime, which they attributed to an increase in police officers, nearly two years of an innovative deterrence program, and a public health approach to neighborhood conditions.
From a record year for homicides in 2023, murders decreased in most sectors of the city in 2025, with the exception of the Kansas City Police Department’s South Patrol, which includes the area between U.S. Highway 71 and Interstate 435 south of Bannister Road. Last year the homicide rate also dipped, but nonfatal shootings increased by 12%, leaving hundreds of people with gunshot wounds.
Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graces, Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson and Mayor Quinton Lucas credited SAVE KC, a focused deterrence program instituted nearly two years ago, for part of the decrease…