Civil rights groups demand local control of Kansas City police, ask chief to resign
A coalition of civil rights groups on Wednesday called for the resignation of Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith, citing a lack of confidence in his handling of fatal police shootings of African American men, and allegations of excessive use of force by the department.
The group, which consisted of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, the NAACP’s Kansas City branch, and More2, demanded the city seek local control of the police department. The group also demands that police officers wear body cameras and that the city dismantle the current oversight agency for the department, the Office of Community Complaints.
The Urban League and its partners issued a statement saying Smith has abused his power by allowing officers under investigation to return to work, and that the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners was complicit in allowing Smith to do so.
“We have no confidence in his commitment, his competency or in his compassion or his ability to lead this police force on where it needs to go,” Gwen Grant, president of the Kansas City Urban League, said of Smith.
“We do not believe that he is committed to reform. We believe Chief Smith is more committed to protecting the blue line of the police department than protecting the community.”
The group cited the “...commissioners’ laissez-faire form of governance, which in effect, allows Chief Smith to act unilaterally as the supreme investigator, judge and jury in excessive force and officer-involved homicide cases in his department.”
The group mentioned that Smith has refused to provide a statement of probable cause to Jackson County prosecutors investigating two officers accused of assaulting a transgender woman.
“This tactic obstructs justice and erodes public trust,” the group said.
The group has recently held community forums that address the public’s relationship with police.
“The time has come. The time for change is now,” Grant said. “Our city, our nation and our globe has reached a tipping point and if we don’t act now we will not survive this crisis as a nation. We must act now.”
Smith was not available for comment as of publication time Wednesday afternoon.
Kansas City police issues
The call for Smith’s resignation comes after crowds descended on the Country Club Plaza for five days of protest against police brutality.
The protests were inspired by the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer in Minnesota. But Kansas City protesters have raised complaints about local police.
“The ongoing policies, practices, and procedures of the KCPD foster distrust in law enforcement,” the group said.
The group has been critical of the handling of police shooting deaths of black men, including Ryan Stokes, Terrance Bridges, Cameron Lamb and Donnie Sanders.
In its statement Wednesday, the group criticized “Chief Smith’s consistent incestuous practice of conducting internal investigations of officer-involved homicides and excessive use of force incidents rather than calling for an outside law enforcement agency to conduct independent investigations as is a common best practice utilized by most law enforcement agencies.”
Nathan Garrett, a member of the police board, said the board has received a copy of the group’s statement and will review it.
“We take the concerns and ideas expressed seriously and will give them fair and impartial consideration; however, I support Chief Smith and believe he is doing an admirable job amidst nearly impossible circumstances,” Garrett said.
“Chief Smith has always had the best interest of this City and Department in his heart and we measure him through a very broad lens of experience and observation,” he said.
“There are a thousand parts to that job, many of which the public never sees. We have no sworn loyalty to any leader in the department and only want what is best for the city. That is our commitment and sworn duty. And I believe it ill-advised to allow this moment to sweep us into monumental and structural changes without a clear-minded and reflective process, which we intend to employ.”
Grant said the coalition had spent seven months collecting data and reviewing police records, speaking with residents, and has held several meetings with police officials.
Grant noted that 70 percent of the city’s operating budget is dedicated to public safety, with more than $250 million dedicated to the police department.
“Yet the city of Kansas City has no authority over the police department’s decisions, practices and procedures.” she said.
Kansas City is the only city in Missouri, and one of the largest cities in the United States, that doesn’t have local control of its police department. Instead, the police department is controlled by a board appointed by the Missouri governor.
The coalition of civil rights groups also wants the police department to ban the use of knee holds and choke holds used by officers. It is seeking dismantle and restructure the Office of Community Complaints, an agency created as oversight for Kansas City police.
The office answers to the police board and sustained less than 2% of complaints in 2018. It lacks authority to investigate police shootings.
Religious leaders speak
Earlier Wednesday, a group of clergy gathered at City Hall to make some demands similar to those made by the civil rights groups.
The religious leaders, from around the Kansas City area, demanded that police officers be required to wear body cameras, called for an independent review board for police and a return of local control of the police department.
“We felt it necessary to make some demands,” Emanuel Cleaver III, pastor at St. James United Methodist Church, said during a news conference on the steps of City Hall. “There is a long history of tension between minority communities and police. What happened to George Floyd is nothing new.”
The clergy said the protests that have been taking place since Friday night in Kansas City are the result of constant harassment of the minority community at the hands of police.
The clergy is demanding that police end all forms of excessive force, including the use of pepper spray against peaceful protesters.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 3:02 PM.
