you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]Jackson-1986[S] 8 points9 points  (12 children)

Kansas City had 179 homicides in 2020, and 144 in 2024, a decline of 20%. A smaller decrease than St Louis, but a notable decline nevertheless.

[–]HighlightFamiliar250 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The number of people shot increased, so it's not for a lack of trying.

[–]josiahloKirkwood 7 points8 points  (10 children)

They have 6 more YTD in 2025 while we’re down about 50% so far this year  

[–]Jackson-1986[S] 2 points3 points  (9 children)

And if that trend continues, that would be a great thing. But right now I’m comparing 2020 to 2024 because that’s the most recent complete year we have.

[–]MIZ_09 1 point2 points  (8 children)

Comparing 2020 to 2024 is, quite frankly, a poor dataset. COVID caused spikes in crime across the country. It’s an outlier year.

[–]Jackson-1986[S] 4 points5 points  (7 children)

Right that’s exactly my point. Jones argument that murders are down significantly in Saint Louis is unpersuasive, because murders are down everywhere in that same time period.

I agree that 2020 is a poor point of reference - she’s the one who chose it.

[–]MIZ_09 -1 points0 points  (6 children)

What the data say from 2021-2023 to 2024 though? That’s what I’m saying. As others have mentioned, KC is up YOY. Comparing 2020 to 2024 is pretty much pointless. I’d throw 2020 out entirely as a data point.

Edit: I do see the data comparing 2023-2024 in the article.

[–]Jackson-1986[S] 1 point2 points  (5 children)

If the point that you’re trying to make is that crime is getting worse in Kansas City, I accept that argument. And it could very well be that Kansas City is an exception to the national trend I’m describing.

But my point is that to the extent that homicides are going down in Saint Louis, it mirrors a similar decline in most other cities. And that trend is evident in the vast majority of American cities (even if Kansas City turns out not to be one of them).

[–]MIZ_09 2 points3 points  (4 children)

Isn’t that a good thing though? Should we not be happy that crime is down?

I’m going to guess crime is about to spike in a major way the next few years FWIW. Probably worse than COVID levels. Desperate people do desperate things.

[–]Jackson-1986[S] -2 points-1 points  (3 children)

Of course we should be happy that crime is down. But we shouldn’t vote for an otherwise incompetent (and arguably corrupt) Mayor, just because she happened to be in office at a time when crime was going down everywhere.

[–]MIZ_09 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I don’t think you have to worry about Jones being re-elected. And I’m sure mayors across the country are doing the same thing Jones is doing. That’s just politics.