WICHITA CRIME COMMISSION, INC.
Established, 1952

The year 2012 will mark the 60^th anniversary of the Wichita Crime Commission, making our organization one of the oldest citizen-based crime commissions in the United States.

On August 31, 1951 the U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce issued its final report, capping more than a year of hearings chaired by Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver.  The committee’s final report concluded that “A great step forward would be accomplished in the field of law enforcement if privately constituted crime commissions… could be established in every city in the United States where organized crime presents a serious problem.”

Although organized crime was not a serious problem in Wichita in 1952, it was in that political climate that the Wichita Crime Commission was founded as a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan group of business and professional men and women whose goal was to prevent the entrenchment of organized crime in the community, and to encourage greater interest by the public in the prevention of crime and the enforcement of criminal laws.  

For the past 60 years, the history of the Crime commission has been one of cooperation with local, state and federal agencies and other citizen’s groups engaged in the fight against crime.

The Wichita Crime Commission is not a law enforcement agency.  It is an organization of concerned citizens who exercise the right to investigate community conditions and work to improve those areas which are deemed to be unacceptable.  Membership in the Wichita Crime Commission is by invitation only. However, members may choose their own level of involvement in the organization.

Today, the Wichita Crime Commission has a strong focus on young people.  For example, each summer LAW Camp helps many middle- and high-school-age children learn leadership and team-building skills while they also learn such things as flag etiquette and appreciation for law enforcement officers.  LAW Camp, a project of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, has turned around the lives of hundreds of young people.

Make Good Choices, another Crime Commission program, works with high school students, showing them the rewards of making good life choices and the consequences of making bad ones.

One of the Make Good Choices program is the Gang Free Wichita project.  It helps young people, their family members and the community-at-large understand the threat gangs pose to our community’s quality of life and economic viability.  The website, www.GangFreeWichita.org, is the only such community-wide gang resource in the state of Kansas.

• Cosponsor of the largest annual Gang and Drug Training Conference offered to law enforcement officers in the Midwest;

• Cosponsor of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Annual Law Camp which is designed to present a positive criminal justice message to more than 200 “at risk” young people;

• Taking public positions for and against proposed legislation related to criminal justice issues;

• Coordinating the very successful “Make Good Choices” program by underwriting the cost of transportation to expose “at risk” young people to the realities of prison life;
• Home of the Gang Free Wichita project, a web-based resource providing young people, their families and the community with valuable information about gangs, including warning signs that a young person may be getting involved in a gang, how to prevent young people from joining gangs, and how to help them get out of gangs;

• Conducting monthly informational luncheon meetings at which Commission members are briefed by high ranking criminal justice officials;

• Serving on the Board of Directors of the Wichita/Sedgwick County Crime Stoppers and as a charter member, continuing to help develop ways in which the program can become more effective;

• Monitoring high profile criminal court cases;

• Organizing and producing an annual awards dinner at which a forum is provided to pay tribute and tell the story of outstanding performances by greater Wichita area law enforcement professionals;

• Serving as community advisors to the Regional Community Police Training Institute at Wichita State University.

• Working closely with USD 259 and School Resource Officers to provide support for ongoing student related programs.

• Working with Wichita Police and Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Crime Prevention units to assist in getting information to the public.

The Crime Commission is funded 100% by membership contributions. It has been designated by the Internal Revenue Service as a Not-for-Profit Organization with 501(c) 3 status, therefore identifying contributions as tax deductible. As a private, volunteer driven not-for-profit citizen’s organization, the Commission embodies the essential alliance and partnership between the public and private sectors concerned about crime.

“The stylized W for Wichita defines the organization’s parameters

of influence.”

“Twelve gold bars symbolize the 12 founders and form the eagle’s

wingspan. Gold is the standard by which value is measured and the value

of justice is golden.”

“The eagle soars above the surface of everyday activities. The panoramic

view is vital to the gathering of information and the eagle’s role is to watch, to

observe and to analyze from a central position yet aloof from the arena.”

“The eagle is a keen-eyed, hardy, independent creature, recognized and

respected as a law-and-order symbol.”