KANSAS CITY, Mo. –The Kansas City, Mo., police department is promising a large presence at the plaza this weekend, one week after several teens were arrested for fighting and others for curfew violations.
But there will also be a more discreet presence of community volunteers on Saturday night.
A community outreach specialist spoke to FOX 4’s Rob Low about effort to keep the peace at the Country Club Plaza, and keep kids from becoming disruptive.
“That’s not a Plaza problem. That’s not a city problem. That’s a parent problem because if you’re dropping your kids off and you have the type of situation you had last week, that’s not on the city, that’s on us,” said Pat Clarke, Community Outreach Specialist for KCMO Police.
He called on some area adults to meet him at the Plaza at 8 p.m. Saturday to watch out for anything that disrupts the good experience of the Plaza.
Clarke said ten organizations agreed to volunteer, although he did not know how many volunteers would be there.
“We’re just going to be walking around, talking to the kids, letting them know that we care,” said Clarke.
“I think if we have more volunteers down here you have more numbers to suppress the children or people who are trying to disrupt the place,” said Tyrei Woodberry, about the Plaza. “It would make me feel a lot more safer.”
“When they get into big groups and they come down here and they think it’s fun to be rowdy and loud, it’s just very inappropriate for this scene,” said another Plaza employee, Josalind Rogers. “This is an adult scene.”
