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Kansas City Police officers will start driving UTVs to patrol downtown lots, alleys and garages

Two of KCPD's Utility Task Vehicles on display in front of their downtown headquarters.
Brandon Azim
/
KCUR
The Kansas City Police Department showcased two of the new Utility Task Vehicles in front of department headquarters on Tuesday.

The UTVs, or Utility Task Vehicles, will allow police to be nimbler and access areas hard for their patrol cars to reach. Equipped with sirens and police lights, officers will have the authority to pull people over and write tickets. The UTV's will be deployed in a variety of downtown areas including the Crossroads and River Market.

The Kansas City Police Department unveiled the Utility Task Vehicles at a press conference on Tuesday, touting the mini truck-like vehicle's ability to navigate hard to reach spots inaccessible to the traditional patrol car.

“These vehicles can go in alley ways, in parks, trails, industrial areas and all kinds of other places,” said KCPD Chief Stacey Graves.

Just like the standard patrol car, the UTV is equipped with police lights and a siren. It also features a flatbed, roll bar protection and is able to operate year-round, complete with heating and air conditioning. The UTVs were donated by the Police Foundation of Kansas City, a non-profit that supports police activities with, among other things, new technology and equipment.

Robberies and property crimes declined significantly this year — property damage was down 35%, and robberies,18%, between January and September, according to the Police Foundation. Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw believes these new vehicles will build on this success.

“We have heard significant concern about our parking garages and about other areas in downtown Kansas City," Parks-Shaw said. "This is a perfect answer on how we can address and improve the safety of Kansas City.”

In August, two men were killed during a shootout in a parking lot near the Power & Light District downtown. The incident was followed by public outcry for greater security and police presence, particularly in vacant lots and abandoned streets. Small businesses downtown endured a rash of property-damaging robberies and car break-ins in 2024.

Graves said the presence of the officers driving UTV's should be a deterrent to offenders. The officers, she said, will have the same authority as those in a standard squad car.

“If one of these UTVs is behind you and its lights and siren are on," she said, "that means pull over."

I was raised on the East Side of Kansas City and feel a strong affinity to communities there. As KCUR's Solutions reporter, I'll be spending time in underserved communities across the metro, exploring how they are responding to their challenges. I will look for evidence to explain why certain responses succeed while others fail, and what we can learn from those outcomes. This might mean sharing successes here or looking into how problems like those in our communities have been successfully addressed elsewhere. Having spent a majority of my life in Kansas City, I want to provide the people I've called friends and family with possible answers to their questions and speak up for those who are not in a position to speak for themselves.
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