Kansas City homicide detectives identified suspects in 63 percent of last year's killings, a clearance rate similar to 2003 but one that dissatisfies the homicide unit supervisor.
Lack of public help hindered detectives, homicide Capt. Vince Cannon said. I believe we could achieve a 100 percent clearance rate if we got 100 percent cooperation from the public, he said. But unfortunately, some people don't want to talk to the police.
The 63 percent clearance rate mirrors national trends but falls below the level accomplished in Kansas City, Kan., where detectives cleared 89 percent of their 37 cases last year. Those detectives have averaged an 80 percent clearance rate for the past 15 years.
Kansas City detectives, meanwhile, cleared 57 of 91 killings from 2004.
Prosecutors filed murder charges in most of those cases, but national standards allow detectives to count cases as cleared in some instances without charges. Examples include when a suspect dies or when prosecutors believe a suspect is guilty but can't prove it for a technical reason. Cases like those are considered exceptionally cleared.
Nationwide, law enforcement agencies cleared 62.4 percent of homicides in 2003, according to the most recent FBI statistics available. That same year, Kansas City homicide detectives cleared 64 percent of killings. In 2002, they cleared 74 percent.
Cannon, who took over the unit last September, said he was not satisfied with the rate for 2004. It's not good enough, he said. But realistically, I don't want to set 100 percent as our goal. Still, I think we owe it to the public to give each investigation 100 percent.
Alvin Brooks, mayor pro-tem and president of the community group Move Up, also wants more cases cleared and agrees that the public can play a key role. We need to send out the message to the community that, Ë?We need your help. We can't let these criminals, these murderers, go free,'â?? Brooks said.
The clearance rate could have been higher, Cannon said, because several cases with named suspects are awaiting decisions at the Jackson County prosecutor's office. If those cases are cleared, they cannot be added to the 2004 clearance rate.
Cannon said he had several ideas to help clear cases. None involves adding personnel or spending more money â? neither of which would be available in these tight budget times. Instead, he plans to focus on making the homicide unit more efficient, starting with the assault squad. Though part of the homicide unit, assault squad detectives work shootings and stabbings where victims live.
In the past, all three assault squad detectives worked day shifts. Now Cannon is asking one of the detectives to work nights so we can make crime scenes 16 hours of the day.
Having an assault detective at more crime scenes will help solve more assaults, which should help homicide cases, Cannon said. Assault suspects often become suspects in homicides because some assaults are basically unsuccessful homicides, Cannon said.
Cannon also said he wanted to expand a program used in the East Patrol Division where patrol officers investigate assaults involving little or no injuries, freeing up assault detectives to investigate the more serious cases.
Cannon also wants to promote a closer working relationship between homicide detectives and detectives in other units, such as drug enforcement, the career criminal squad and the gang squad.
Besides clearing 57 killings that occurred in 2004, Kansas City homicide detectives also cleared 40 cases that occurred in previous years. Those cases are not counted in the 2004 clearance rate because they would push the total figure to a statistically impossible 107 percent.