Business owners in Kansas City, Missouri, are expressing frustration with the city’s handling of a series of downtown crimes, with some stating they’ve had to “take matters into our own hands.”
According to a report by U.S. News and World Report, Kansas City was ranked as the eighth-most dangerous city in the nation for 2024, considering both murder and property crime rates per 100,000 individuals. In the ranking for 2025, the city appears in the twentieth position.
As of 2025, 61 homicides have been recorded, compared to 52 by this time in 2024, according to data from the Kansas City Police Department. KCUR reports that from 2019 to 2023, property crimes in the city increased by 31%. Although homicides are down from 2023, a year marked as the deadliest with 182 occurrences, the numbers are still concerning.
Andrew Cameron, founder of Donutology, told Fox News Digital in an interview that it feels like crime in Kansas City is “at an all-time high as far as we’re concerned.”
Personal injury attorney Suzanne Hale-Robinson told Fox News Digital she has seen an exponential increase in vehicle break-ins in the past six to nine months. On one occasion, Hale-Robinson said someone squatted in an office located in her building.
“One time, the floor above us had left their door unlocked over a weekend and somebody just had a nice, like, staycation in their office and then left with a couple laptops. So that’s been like the break-ins in our building. Aside from that, we have a parking lot to the rear of our building and, yeah, luckily, my car, knock on wood, has not been broken into. I try not to leave anything in there, but you know probably 10 to 15 vehicles have been broken into,” Hale-Robinson said.
She said it’s frustrating when police don’t show up after a break-in, adding that her law firm has had to hire private security.
“Initially, over the winter, we paid personally for private security to come because we couldn’t get a response from the city. One thing that has been frustrating is the lack of them sending anybody out when there’s an issue. So when we have a break-in, there’s no police presence at all. We’re being asked to go down to the station to make a report. And so that creates, I think, an inherent non-deterrent for criminals because there’s no fear of immediate police reaction,” Hale-Robinson said.
Hale-Robinson said that while she recognizes there should be a better law enforcement response, the city needs to do more to address homelessness.
Downtown skyline of Kansas City, Mo. (Getty)
“I do think there’s blame that should be placed … on the Kansas City government and how we’re handling it and not just a focus on these individuals who, a lot of times, are houseless people that are [committing] crimes of desperation that is then fueled by the city’s inability to help,” she said.
In an effort to fight property crime, Democrat Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas put forward a $1 million proposal in January to increase off-duty law enforcement presence in areas of the city with higher crime, according to KMBC.
Fox News Digital reached out to Lucas for comment.
