Kansas City police to pay six figures in lawsuit over timekeeping fraud. See details
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- Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners agreed to pay $210,000 to settle the lawsuit.
- Kathy Coots alleged retaliation after reporting timekeeping fraud and misuse of resources.
- Coots had to submit retirement by May 1 to begin no later than Dec. 31.
The Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners has agreed to pay $210,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a now former sergeant who alleged she faced retaliation after reporting timekeeping fraud within the department.
Kathy Coots, a former sergeant with the Kansas City Police Department, will be paid $104,169 and the remaining amount will cover attorney’s fees.
The lawsuit was settled through mediation and ultimately ended in early June. The settlement agreement notes that it should not be seen as an admission of guilt by the Police Department.
The original filing was redacted and concealed the names of a captain and a major within the Police Department who were accused of changing time cards. The Star filed a motion to intervene in the case to obtain an unredacted copy of the filings.
Complaint alleged timekeeping violations
Coots’ lawsuit alleged that she uncovered widespread timekeeping violations and misuse of department resources within the Police Department’s Community Engagement Division and Youth Services Unit.
Coots was assigned to oversee the Youth Programs Section, part of the Youth Services Unit, in late 2019, shortly after an internal investigation found multiple timekeeping violations in the unit resulting in “severe discipline” for three supervisors, according to the complaint.
She says she was instructed to tighten accountability, including teaching timekeeping compliance courses to all sergeants from 2020 through 2022.
The Youth Services Unit was moved in 2022 under the Police Department’s new Community Engagement Division, which was headed by Maj. Kari Thompson. Coots said in her lawsuit that shortly after that restructuring, she noticed and documented timekeeping violations in the division.
According to the complaint, officers assigned as school resource officers in Kansas City Public Schools were routinely reassigned from their daytime school duties to overnight patrol shifts in entertainment districts, including Westport, the Crossroads, the Plaza, 18th and Vine and the Power & Light District.
Coots alleged that the reassignments violated an agreement between the Police Department and Kansas City Public Schools, which required officers to stay in their assigned schools while classes were in session.
The lawsuit also alleged that officers assigned to the Police Department’s youth gang and drug prevention education programs were paid using COMBAT grant funds — Jackson County tax dollars earmarked for anti-crime programs — despite not performing duties required under the grants.
Coots alleged in the lawsuit that while assigned to the Community Engagement Division, Thompson was “working off-duty assignments during the hours of her regular shift when she should have been performing her assigned duties for CED.” Coots alleged that the conduct occurred between at least March and July 2024.
Coots alleged in the lawsuit that she discovered in 2024 that a captain in the Community Engagement Division had assigned himself extra paid days off while also claiming overtime for the same shifts.
An investigation followed and both the captain and Thompson were transferred out of the unit in 2025. Coots alleged neither faced significant accountability, according to the lawsuit.
Coots alleged that after reporting the concerns, she faced retaliation from department leadership, including being locked in a kitchenette by a major.
According to the lawsuit, Coots said she lost access to timekeeping systems, was excluded from routine communications and operational decisions, received unwarranted reprimands and ultimately transferred out of the division in early 2025 to avoid continued harassment.
The Star files for unredacted records
The settlement also resolved an effort by The Star to obtain unredacted court records filed in the case.
The Star filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit in an attempt to unseal the case file on Dec. 29.
That motion sought to obtain both an unredacted copy of the complaint and an unredacted answer filed by attorneys representing the Kansas City police board.
The attorneys withdrew that motion to seal in June. The filing said the parties had reached a settlement through mediation in March and that the lawsuit would be dismissed.
As part of the settlement, Coots was required to submit her retirement by May 1, which the agreement said it to begin no later than Dec. 31. She was placed on paid leave on April 14 and will remain there until her retirement.
