Kansas City News Blog

​Update 3:43 p.m.: Officer Darin Snapp just called to say that there actually was no "controlled buy" wherein a cop dressed up as a UPS worker and hand-delivered someone's stash only to arrest him seconds later. Police did seize the 40 pounds of pot, though. Live on paranoid fantasy!

Over the last three days, officers with the Kansas City Police Department have been rushing drug-house doors, hauling out the criminals and making the local criminal element run scared.

Local police, working in conjunction with federal law enforcement officers, arrested 93 people on 232 warrants, which works out to about 2.5 warrants per person. These weren't exactly model citizens. Police sweeps like this one can have a lasting effect on neighborhood violence, said KCPD spokesman officer Darin Snapp.

"If you look at the types of shooting in Kansas City, most of the time you're seeing the same group of people," Snapp said. "By getting a few people off the streets, we can cut shootings down by half."

Police plucked a 40-pound package of marijuana out of the mail (yoink!) seized  heroin, crack, cocaine, PCP, ecstasy and a bunch of pharmaceuticals -- the sum of which has a street value of over $97,000. They also got $11,000 in cash and 40 firearms.

Ten of those weapons were assault rifles, police said. On one bust, officers were going about their business when they heard gunfire coming from a block away. They drove to the scene to find a woman pointing out her son, who was sitting in a nearby vehicle. Police recovered an SKS assault rifle and took the 16-year-old into custody.

"This shows you that there's young kids out there joyriding and shooting SKS assault rifles into the air for no reason," Snapp said.

More stats 'n stuff after the jump.

The bust was a culmination of an investigation that started in December 2008 and involved the KCPD, Independence police, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ICE, the U.S. Marshals and the DEA.

Here are the stats:

• 232 warrants cleared
• 93 new arrests
• Narcotics valued of $97,328.60 (because apparently junkies carry change purses)
• $11,071 in cash
• $60,000 in stolen property
• 40 illegal handguns
  

Police also gathered information about eight unsolved homicides and seven unsolved shootings, many of which happened a year ago.

Over time, Snapp said, neighbors get more comfortable with talking to the police. Then stop snitchin' stops.