Kansas City is heading for another homicide record. What will end no-snitch culture?

Tanishia Hinton of Kansas City is the mother of a murdered child. Her daughter, Shaira Hinton, was weeks away from turning 28 when she was fatally shot July 17. Despite a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case, her murder remains unsolved.

Part of the problem, according to her mother? A no-snitch culture in Kansas City that enables killers to remain free.

“When homicides go unsolved in Kansas City, we’re all at risk,” Tanishia Hinton wrote on a GoFundMe page she created asking for financial support to help her move from the home located near where her daughter was killed. Recently, Hinton announced on Facebook she had secured a new place to live.

Her news came as Kansas City recorded its 110th homicide of 2022, a 10% jump in homicides compared to the same time last year, the second deadliest in the city’s history. Last year at this point, 100 people had been killed, according to Kansas City police data.

The rise in violent deaths is made even worse by the fact that families aren’t getting the justice they deserve — or the closure they need — because of a below-average clearance rate at the Kansas City Police Department.

As of Aug. 26, a suspect had been identified or arrested in just 39 of the 111 killings committed this year, according to police data. A clearance rate of just under 36% — far below 2020’s national average of nearly 50% — is unacceptable to grieving parents like Tanishia Hinton.

From 2019 to 2020, as murders spiked here and elsewhere, police across the country solved about 1 in every 2 murders, according to the Marshall Project. That rate was down from nearly 70% a few years ago.

The below-average clearance rates in Kansas City come as the police department’s homicide detectives stretch to meet a rising caseload. In an email to the editorial board, Kansas City Police Capt. Everett Babcock, who leads the homicide unit, said recent homicides have not followed a traditional pattern.

“The motivations for the homicides we have experienced over the last year have generally not fallen into any identifiable cause or groups of causes which did not previously exist. They are just happening more often,” he wrote. “This makes addressing the problem even more difficult.”

In 2021, 75 of 157 homicides were cleared, according to Kansas City police. But only 25 of those cases were presented to the Jackson County prosecutor’s office. Far too often, families are left to pick up the pieces and ponder why their loved one’s death remains an open investigation.

Witnesses won’t speak out

Officers found Hinton’s daughter Shaira unresponsive inside a car that rolled to a stop less than a block from the family’s Kansas City home near East 88th Street and Sycamore Avenue. Medical personnel pronounced her dead at the scene. In what has become a familiar pattern, neighbors witnessed the shooting but won’t talk, according to Hinton.

Last month, a memorial service and balloon release was held in her honor at Oregon Trail Park in Olathe. The spot was her last known happy place, according to her mother. Mourners wore custom T-shirts in her favorite color, royal blue. In spite of the very public shooting, possible witnesses and a sizable reward, no one has been apprehended in connection to the death, Kansas City Police Department officials told the editorial board last week.

“As difficult as losing my baby has been, it is compounded by the fact that the person has yet to be caught,” Tanishia Hinton wrote on GoFundMe, adding her “neighbors were WITNESSES and refuse to tell and I have to drive thru the crime scene daily to get into my driveway!”

On the day Shaira died, she was one of three people shot and killed near Swope Park in Kansas City. None of those cases have been cleared, Kansas City police officials said.

About a month later, 14-year-old Kevaun Hughes died in the parking lot of a convenience store in Kansas City. He was one of two people shot just before 11:30 p.m. Aug. 15 outside the Top Spot near 27th Street and Brooklyn Avenue. The other victim was transported to the hospital but survived, police said.

Kevaun’s funeral was held Aug. 23. Family members recalled him as a goofy and playful teenager with a loving spirit. The teen’s death marked the 105th homicide in Kansas City. A reward is available, but the case remains unsolved.

Reward money not a motivation?

Why isn’t $25,000 enough to help solve a violent crime?

Anti-crime advocates say Kansas City doesn’t offer a safe, reliable program to keep witnesses safe if they do provide information on violent crimes. That’s a problem because the people most often affected by violent crime often have the least faith in the criminal justice system, and many don’t trust Kansas City police.

“People are frustrated and angry with them so they don’t cooperate even when it could benefit them,” offered Damon Daniel, president of the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime, a Kansas City anti-violence crime organization.

That sets up a troubling dilemma. If the very people most affected by violent crime don’t trust the police enough to help them solve those crimes, then how will their neighborhoods ever be made safer? No one in Kansas City wants to see brazen public shootings become the norm.

To prevent that, witnesses who have information about violent crimes will eventually have to come forward and report what they know. That means Kansas City police and other anti-crime groups have to do more to win over residents’ trust.

It also means getting the word out about ways that witnesses can already safely report what they have seen. Anyone wishing to relay pertinent information to the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers’ TIPS Hotline can do so without identifying themselves, officials said. The goal is to develop information on suspects, which investigators can use to conduct a detailed investigation.

The TIPS program offers several ways to discreetly report a crime, including via telephone or email. Tech-savvy tipsters can download the P3 Tips mobile app to report what they know.

Last year, only six homicide cases were cleared via the TIPS program, according to the Crime Stoppers website.

In a city with more than 70 unsolved homicides from this year alone, that number needs to grow — and by a lot. Higher rewards may be part of the answer, but better protection and higher trust are essential.

Then and only then can heartsick mothers like Tanishia Hinton get justice and find the closure needed to move forward in life.

How to report crime anonymously

The Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers program provides the following ways to volunteer vital information to law enforcement agencies and remain completely anonymous:

Via telephone: 816-474-TIPS (8477)

Online: kccrimestoppers.com

The free P3 Tips app for Android and Apple devices

Via the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers’ QR code:

Anyone submitting tips remains anonymous and is eligible to receive a cash reward if the information given leads to an arrest or grand jury indictment of a felony offender.