KCPD comes up empty

You know, some people might note that a story about Kansas City Police engaging in a near 4 hour standoff with nobody in particular is embarrassing . . . Whereas I think it's a step forward.

Kansas City, Missouri Police cleared a home at 50th and Paseo on Monday evening, after surrounding the home for 3 and a half hours looking for a suspect in a domestic dispute case . . . Police negotiators and a tactical response team were attempting to negotiate a peaceful surrender, and around 10 p.m. officers cleared the house and discovered no one inside.

On the bright side, the KCPD totally tried to talk things out, they protected the victim of the crime which preceded the standoff and they even gave the alleged assailant plenty of time to resolve the situation (if he had only been around when they finally tried to take him by force) . . . It was just plain old bad luck that nobody was in the house they had surrounded.

Nobody said that building productive relationships within the diverse communities which comprise Kansas City was an exact science. Clearly, the KCPD made the right kind of effort to talk with a community member rather than Taser, arrest or beat them . . . In this instance, they simply forgot that you have to involve at least one member of a community in order to do community outreach . . . But I have a feeling they're gonna get better at it and in no time they won't have any trouble talking to a real, live person. Baby steps.