Kansas City businesses want to see more efforts made to prevent rampant break-ins: police, communication, penalties
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - As Kansas City leaders look to help businesses after many recent break-ins, owners want to see more proactive work done to stop these from continuing.
Early Wednesday morning, Betty Rae’s Ice Cream in River Market had a man force his way through the doors and steal cash, ice cream, peanuts, and water.
“A plethora of things I would never think about whenever trying to create a heist and whatnot but,” said Betty Rae’s Owner, Matt Shatto. He added, “It seems like it is the thing to do in River Market right now.”
Recently, Enzo, Donutology, and City Cycle all faced similar incidents in River Market.
Shatto’s neighbors reached out after their break-in trying to see what could be done.
“Us businesses are talking amongst ourselves about investing a considerable amount of money to protect our community our own businesses and you beg the question of what are the public safety dollars going to,” said Shatto. He added, “The problem here for me is not the money that it costs to fix the door the problem is whenever I have employees that are 16 years old to come work at an ice cream shop they wonder if they are going to be safe working here.”
He made a post on LinkedIn, tagging Mayor Quinton Lucas.
“Unfortunately we don’t feel safe in public,” said Shatto. He added, “Saying look we can do better right and I’m here I’m willing to help if there is anything an ignorant ice cream guy can do.”
Shatto wants to see more police around River Market late at night into the early morning.
“The problem here for me is not the money that it costs to fix the door the problem is whenever I have employees that are 16 years old to come work at an ice cream shop they wonder if they are going to be safe working here,” said Shatto.
It’s a mixed frustration many business owners are feeling right now.
Over at Brewer’s Kitchen and Corner, Owner Chris Riggins said they had a break-in during the COVID lockdowns and just a few weeks ago. He said it can be a lot.
“We ran into permit issues like crazy that delayed us a whole year I lost almost six figures from the city just delaying me so then we finally recovered from that and now we are here so it just feels like this game of ups and downs,” said Brewer’s Kitchen and Corner Owner, Chris Riggins. He added, “It is a violating feeling to walk through your own restaurant door not through the door but the broken glass.”
He said on top of repairing the door and replacing the safe, insurance hasn’t been the easiest to deal with.
“(Insurance) They want a deposit log well the deposit log is kept in the safe, they stole the safe,” said Riggins. He added, “Our city we feel as small business owners a little left out to dry right now.”
He feels there needs to be better communication between the city, the police department, and the prosecutor’s office.
“I want to focus on serving great food and serving my community I don’t want to think about theft and filling out insurance paperwork and even sitting here and having an interview I’d much rather be cooking burgers,” said Riggins.
He appreciates the Back to Business fund but feels there could be more to help businesses stay open and succeed.
Previous Coverage: ‘It’s a step’: Kansas City leaders create fund for business owners after rampant break-ins
“The thefts that we are seeing are but merely a byproduct of what is happening in Kansas City. We are letting ourselves not stay focused on keeping Kansas City great keeping it an awesome place to live, keeping it a place that future generations can love to be here for cause I want everyone to love Kansas City like I do,” said Riggins.
While Mayor Quinton Lucas responded to Shatto’s comments online on Wednesday, he shared more with KCTV5 on Thursday.
He said he understands and shares the same concerns these business owners have.
“I think there are real things that we can do to try to address these issues, and it takes everyone working together on it,” said Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Quinton Lucas.
He said they are working to get more detention space with the 8th floor and a possible April vote for a larger jail, but there is space in the Jackson County jail.
“On the police side, we need more controls. We need more innovation, I think, in how we are doing enforcement. And frankly, people need and deserve a faster response what we cannot do, by law in the State of Missouri is to actually just say we’re going to create second private security forces. Taxpayers are going to fund that too, and then have people show up for that,” said Mayor Lucas.
He said these are things that can’t wait and something needs to continue to better approach these problems.
“It seems as if what we are seeing long term right now is something that has been consistent. It has been repeated. It seems like a lot of these break-ins are gone in similar patterns. So I truly do hope that we are getting the investigative resources necessary to try to track what the issue really is,” said Mayor Lucas.
Also Read: ‘Back to Business’ Grant Fund sees dozens interested with applications opening in October
Shatto said he is not against the Mayor, he wants to work together.
“It is an issue of crime and that is not political,” said Shatto. He added, “We need leadership to come from somewhere to realize that we need a proactive response, not a reactive one.”
“There is something different going on. We need to make sure that gets the investigative focus that we see in other areas. And I think that’s what is at his core Mr. Shatto was saying, what every business owner I’ve talked to is saying, and what I would say is this, all of us have to work together on it,” said Mayor Lucas.
Business owners continue to ask the community to keep ing local as everyone works to move past these break-ins.
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