Kansas City police board will hire the only firm to apply in its search for new chief

Kansas City police commissioners on Wednesday selected a California-based company as the firm it plans to hire to conduct a national search for the city’s next police chief.

Public Sector Search & Consultants was the only firm to submit a bid to help the police board identify a slate of candidates for the job.

The board met via telephone conference and voted 4 to 1 to select the firm headed by Gary Peterson. Commissioners Mark Tolbert, Cathy Dean, Dawn Cramer and Don Wagner voted to hire the firm. Mayor Quinton Lucas cast the dissenting vote.

Lucas said that he preferred the police board formally solicit bids from individual search firms instead of merely putting out a request for bids. That would have provided the police board more options and firms to consider.

“It was a missed opportunity to at least know where we are going in terms of getting the best answers available,” Lucas told The Star in a phone interview following the board meeting.

“While I disagree with the path, I certainly look forward to working with Mr. Peterson, who has great knowledge and experience with the Kansas City Police Department.”

Peterson was with Ralph Andersen & Associates, a different firm that was involved in the search that led to the 2017 decision to hire Rick Smith as the city’s 45th police chief.

Tolbert, the board’s president, was not immediately available for comment following the board’s meeting that lasted less than 10 minutes.

But during the meeting, Tolbert said he had reached out to several firms to see if they were interested in a submitting a bid.

“I’m pretty exhausted at this point that for whatever reason, we can’t get any traction on any bidders and we’ve got to get started on this,” Tolbert told fellow commissioners. “I think that if we put it off for another 30 days, it’s just a waste of time.”

Cramer said she agreed. “We need to get started, it’s been too long. People want to see that we’re doing something.”

It was the second time commissioners had put out a request for proposals in an effort to hire a search firm. The first time, immediately after Smith announced his retirement earlier this year, an RFP was mailed to multiple firms but the board only received one bid, David Kenner, board secretary and attorney, told commissioners.

The new firm that Peterson currently leads has conducted searches for Seattle, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Dallas police chiefs.

Smith retired in April after nearly five years as the city’s top police officer. Deputy Chief Joseph Mabin, a 22-year veteran of the department, was appointed to serve as interim police chief until a permanent replacement is named.

No timetable has been set on how long the police board will take to select a new chief. That process generally includes background checks, screenings, interviews with board members and a series of public forums to receive input from citizens.

Tolbert has previously said it could take up to a year for commissioners to select a chief.

The next chief needs to be transparent, focused on building community trust and have a clear, well-articulated crime-fighting strategy, according to residents who participated in a series of recent listening sessions.

In March, a coalition of 16 civic, faith-based and business organizations sponsored a series of community gatherings designed to learn what qualities residents want in their next chief. The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce spearheaded the initiative.

Lucas said the City Council agreed to hire Brian Platt as city manager from a slate of finalists. He hoped the police board will have similar options.

Several internal and external candidates have told The Star that they are interested in applying for the job.

Smith, whose career with the department stretched 34 years, was named police chief in August 2017. Throughout his tenure, Smith faced criticism for his handling of excessive use of force, specifically, the killing of Black men by police.

Calls for Smith to step down were renewed in November when Det. Eric DeValkenaere was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Cameron Lamb.

Four days later, The Star reported that Smith was being forced out of his position as chief.

A memo addressed to Smith from Tolbert, the board president, and Lucas said that Smith would retire and his last day would be April 22.

Smith later faced criticism after audio was released of the chief calling Lamb the “bad guy” at the scene of the December 2019 shooting.

This story was originally published June 8, 2022 at 1:21 PM.