Overland Park police won’t ‘conduct an enforcement campaign’ for new trans ID law
While local agencies around Kansas City haven’t received any guidance from the state of Kansas about its new law invalidating transgender residents’ state IDs, at least one area police department said it is not going to go out of its way to enforce the measure.
“The Overland Park Police Department will not conduct an enforcement campaign on this issue,” public information officer John Lacy wrote in an email Thursday.
An enforcement campaign typically describes a targeted and visible ticketing effort, most often focused on citations for things like impaired or distracted driving.
Both Johnson and Wyandotte counties’ sheriff’s offices told The Star they plan to comply with the new ID law as required but didn’t elaborate on any enforcement plans.
A spokesperson for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office said the agency is working with county staff to review the law and figure out steps forward “to ensure compliance.”
The agencies said the state hadn’t communicated any directives to them regarding the ID law.
As of publication time, the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department and the Olathe Police Department did not respond to questions from The Star regarding their enforcement plans.
The agencies’ responses come in the wake of a new Kansas law that voids the state identification documents of roughly 1,800 trans Kansans who have changed their gender markers.
Kansas Republicans, after overriding Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of Senate Bill 244, implemented the law, which affects both driver’s licenses and birth certificates.
The Kansas Department of Revenue says that means people will have to get a new license that lists their sex assigned at birth.
What this means for trans Kansans
The Kansas Department of Revenue mailed letters, dated Monday, to people who have changed their gender markers on their licenses through that state agency notifying them that those licenses would be invalid starting Thursday.
People who don’t immediately get their credentials updated could be at risk of additional penalties, like a traffic violation, according to those letters. ID holders who are affected will only receive notice by mail, and the department of revenue is working on updating its website to include new information on the law change, a spokesperson told The Star.
But not everyone who is transgender in Kansas and who changed their markers had received a letter as of Thursday, according to a local activist. And the state search website that allows people to check the status of their license still shows some people’s licenses as active.
The Kansas Department of Revenue said in an email statement Thursday evening that licenses with amended gender markers that have not already been deemed invalid will be soon. Until the license data is updated, though, licenses listed as valid should be treated as valid by law enforcement, spokesperson Zachary Denney said.
“The KDOR Driver’s License Status Check page accurately reflects KDOR’s internal system, and what law enforcement entities will see if they check a license. The system is being updated, and as it is, the Status Check website will reflect changes made within the system,” Denney said.
The law as it’s written does not require local departments of motor vehicles to proactively revoke or issue new driver’s licenses, said Krystal McFeders, a spokesperson for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK.
Rather, the onus falls on the person whose driver’s license was deemed invalid to get a new one.
This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 6:29 PM.
