The Reardon Report

I gave the state of the Unified Government speech on Tuesday, Feb. 8.  We had wonderful turn out.  About 350 people attended the speech and among other things we showcased the new Sporting KC soccer stadium and the opening of the Sara Lee deli meat processing facility in KCK.

There never seems to be enough time to share all of what is happening in our community.  So I thought this space would be the perfect place to present some finer details.  We continue to make impressive progress in making our community safer.  I noted in the speech that violent crime went down 15.7% in 2010 in KCK.  This marks the third year in a row that we have reported less than 1,000 violent crimes in the city.  We are at a 25 year low in both violent crime and overall crime.  

There were other impressive statistics about the progress our police department has made during 2010 that I didn’t get to mention in the speech.  Our police department responded to over 211,000 calls for service last year.  Thanks to an increase emphasis on traffic enforcement we saw nearly 1,000 less traffic accidents then in 2009; a 25% reduction.  And our animal control unit in cooperation with the Humane Society of Kansas City saw the lowest rates of euthanasia on record in 2010.  In 2008 animal control euthanized 2,199 animals, in 2010 a total of only 20 animals were euthanized; over 2,400 pets were saved.  We should do everything we can to ensure this cooperative venture remains in the place going forward.

And while those statistics are impressive I know that we must continue to bolster our efforts to make neighborhoods safe.  Our police department continues to be responsive to our communities needs.  For instance, the department has created a Gang Intelligence Officer position who tracks gang members, gang activity, and graffiti issues throughout the city.    This reflects a hallmark of the department; its positive connections and responsiveness to our citizens and neighborhood groups.

As I said in the speech, I applaud the great work of Police Chief Rick Armstrong and the hundreds of men and women of our police department that honorably serve our community on a day to day basis.