In certain parts of Kansas City, like where Avila is located, it is nice and peaceful with very little violence. However, in other areas of the city, this is not the case. In 2017, there 151 homicides committed by way of gun violence. The amount of homicides in the city have doubled since 2014. Mayor Sly James has been busy trying to find a solution to this growing problem. He said “If we knew how to prevent this senseless carnage and save lives, don't you think we already would've done it?" A possible reason for this spike in homicides may have something to do with the amount of officers that were out patrolling. Last year, the KCPD had only 1,279 officers on its force. This is the lowest amount of officers in James’s tenure. In my opinion, having more officers patrolling the streets in high conflict area will prevent a lot of violence. Although it is a tough situation to put those officers into, I think it is the best possible way to prevent many of the homicides and shootings. However, involving the police is not the only way to get this number of homicides down. In many of these reported shootings, it is a case of black on black crime. In today’s society, it is more important than ever that African Americans look at themselves as brothers and stop what James called “senseless carnage”. In order to do so, it will take people who are genuinely willing to change. People may have to go to these neighborhoods and inform people that the decisions that they are making can be avoided and that they can co-exist peacefully. It will take people in these neighborhoods wanting to change and wanting to stop the culture of gang violence in Kansas City. The last way I believe some of these crimes can be solved is by stricter gun control reforms. Even though many of these firearms are bought illegally, stopping a couple more from being on the streets each year will help keep the area safer and cut down on the amount of homicides.
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