We Must Protect Our Communities:

By Chris Moreno

I visited sunny California a few months back for the first time, and like many, I was excited to get there. However, the longer I was there, surrounded by smog, constant traffic jams, little grass and everything over priced, the more I missed home. We are fortunate to live in this wonderful state, in this wonderful county and this fantastic community. However, no community is perfect, and as leaders, we must continue to seek improvements.

For starters, it is absolutely astonishing that our fantastic Police Officers, Fire Fighters and Emergency Personnel in Lee’s Summit, rank at the bottom in pay and benefits in Jackson County. Having family, friends and neighbors, who put their lives on the line each and every day in this community, is something I am proud of. In my opinion, we have top of the line protectors of this great community in these men and women. I have seen the financial sacrifice they must live in order to provide the best for their families. For them, money is tight, and in a community like ours, there is no excuse for it. They aren’t asking too much. Only that they get paid a competitive, fair wage with benefits equal to the rest of the areas in Jackson County, Mo. and Johnson County, Ks. It is time that we reward them, and their families, for their hard work and sacrifice, by providing them with the wages and benefits they deserve. This also means going above and beyond their already hard earned merit pay. I challenge our city leaders to have an open, responsible, fair dialect with representatives of our Police Force, Fire Fighters and Emergency Personnel. These folks put their lives on the line so that our community doesn’t become a home to violence. We continue to lose top of the line defenders to communities around us, equally safe as Lee’s Summit, but with better pay.

Additionally, our park rangers go through the same training as every officer does. A panel that looked into this matter, which included community leaders, came to the conclusion that Park Rangers should be armed. We have beautiful parks in our area, such as Lake Jacomo and Longview.

However, folks avoid these places because of fears of fights, drug deals or sexual assaults. It is our Park Rangers who are first on the scene in these areas and deserve to be protected.
I wrote several weeks ago about the need to talk with the teens we know about the harm of online predators. Yet it is astonishing to me that Jackson County, is one of only a few counties in the state, that does not have a full-time official, registering sex offenders. According to Prosecutor Mike Sanders, who has put Jackson County on the map nationwide for fighting crime, there are around 750 unregistered sex offenders currently residing in the county or around 35 percent. Stop and think about that the next time you go online to check for sex offenders in your area. Registering sex offenders consistently provides a more accurate report to our residents as to newly registered offenders or those that have moved to other communities. The cost of a couple of full-time employee’s to keep this updated is worth making sure our children and families live in safe communities.

These issues are serious issues that need not be taken lightly. If we choose to ignore them, then we are all impacted. As residents we need to speak out, stand up for those that protect us and demand answers from those that continue to ignore or play politics with these issues. If our community demands this, then those things that make this community great, for all of us, will stay that way for years to come.

Chris Moreno is the Democratic Candidate for State Representative in Missouri’s 48th District, is elected to the Jackson County Democratic Committee representing the Lee’s Summit area, member of the Raytown Democratic Association, Summit Democratic Club and Lee’s Summit Breakfast Optimist Club.