Kansas City loses police budget battle. Here’s 5 things to know about the judge who ruled
In a judgment issued Tuesday, Judge Patrick W. Campbell ruled against an effort by officials in Kansas City to reallocate more than $40 million in police funding.
Campbell, who previously served as a family court commissioner, presided over the civil lawsuit filed by the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioner in May.
The lawsuit was filed in response to a pair of ordinances approved by Mayor Quinton Lucas and several members of the city council that reallocated $42.3 million in the police department’s budget that would be used to fund crime prevention and other services.
Campbell was appointed judge in March 2013 by former Gov. Jay Nixon. A native of Independence, Campbell has undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Five things to know about Campbell:
▪ Prior to becoming a circuit court judge, Campbell worked for six years as the Family Court Commissioner of Division 43. He was appointed by the circuit court judges in December 2006, presiding over domestic bench trials and managing dockets.
“I am very honored to be chosen from such a fine panel that included Deputy Probate Commissioner Margene Burnett and attorney Bryan Round. I look forward to the new challenges that I will find in Division 10,” Campbell said at the time of his appointment.
▪ Gov. Nixon appointed Campbell judge, replacing Judge Charles Atwell, who retired on Dec. 1, 2012.
“As a family law commissioner, Judge Campbell has acquired the experience on the bench that will enable him to well serve the people of Jackson County as a circuit judge,” Nixon said in a news release about the appointment.
▪ Campbell is a member of The Missouri Bar, the Kansas Bar, the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and the Association of Women Lawyers. In addition, he served as chair of the Jackson County Circuit Court’s Commissioner Retention Committee and serves on both the executive and rules committees.
▪ He graduated from Rockhurst High School in 1979.
▪ In March, Campbell sentenced a former Jackson County sheriff’s deputy to 180 days in jail for shooting a woman in the back in 2019. Lauren Michael, 31, pleaded guilty in January to felony first-degree assault.
In addition to the jail time, Campbell also sentenced Michael to four years probation with a six-year suspended prison sentence. The assault charge can carry up to 15 years in prison under Missouri law, and on Jackson County prosecutors had asked for six years of time in prison.
Kansas City attorneys and activists said it was a lenient punishment that showed special treatment for law enforcement.
Campbell was assigned the Board of Police Commissioner’s lawsuit a couple months later.
This story was originally published October 5, 2021 at 6:00 PM.