OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Overland Park police may be at a disadvantage in the disappearance of Aisha Kahn because of the lack of surveillance video. There are no cameras on the KU Edwards campus where Khan was last seen.
In 2007, surveillance video helped Overland Park police in their investigation in the Kelsey Smith case in 2007. FOX 4 talked to Smith’s father, Greg Smith, who is a former police officer. He’s shocked that the KU Edwards campus doesn’t have surveillance cameras.
Police aren’t using the word “kidnapping” to describe what happened to the 19-year-old but her cousin has no doubt. Sana Habib said the frantic voicemail left by Kahn just before noon on Friday has her convinced a strange man abducted her.
“We’re extremely worried,” said Habib. “We doing anything we can do for her, which is mostly nothing.”
She said she’s furious that the campus has no cameras.
“There are none on site,” Habib said. “It’s a college. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t have cameras.”
Smith said cameras were critical in solving his daughter’s kidnapping case. His daughter Kelsey Smith was kidnapped from a Target Store in Overland Park in 2007. The public may have never known for sure if it wasn’t for the store’s security cameras.
“That surveillance tape was one of the key pieces of evidence,” Smith said.
Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass admits surveillance video could have been a big help in this case.
“It would be remarkably better if we had it,” Douglass said. “There’s a host of available video opportunities available but unfortunately we haven’t found anything on any of them.”
There are surveillance cameras at nearby businesses and intersections. A spokesperson for the KU Edwards campus said once construction is completed at the college, cameras will be installed.