Church council calls for KCPD to dismiss chief, ‘no longer ignore’ Black community
Heartland Presbytery, a regional body that represents the Presbyterian Church, has called on the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners to dismiss Police Chief Rick Smith.
In a letter Thursday, the church called on the board to hire a new chief who would protect residents equally and discipline officers who “act lawlessly, unethically and without proper respect, especially for Black and Brown people.”
Asked for comment from Smith, Capt. David Jackson, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said the chief has no plans to resign.
The letter from the council cited Smith’s “total lack of a working relationship” with Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, who has said the department has refused to issue probable cause statements in use-of-force cases.
“KCPD is the only law enforcement entity who takes this position, which cuts off my independent judgment on case review,” Baker said last week when her office announced a grand jury indicted an officer who allegedly pepper sprayed a teenager at a protest.
Representing 81 congregations and 173 ministers in Missouri and Kansas, the council commended some of Smith’s efforts, such as the deployment of body cameras. But it said his “lack of a working relationship” with the Black community was problematic.
“We are asking the Board to no longer ignore a Black community that is in deep, relentless pain and out of patience and white Kansas Citians now also unwilling to settle for vague promises of reforms that somehow never come to pass,” the council wrote in the letter signed by its interim executive presbyter, the Rev. Dr. Dee Cooper.
The council adopted a resolution to call for Smith’s dismissal during a meeting last week. Its offices, and 14 of its congregations, are based in Kansas City.
“We are fully aware that Rick Smith’s removal and even local control of the Kansas City Police Department and more civilian input will not magically solve all the problems,” the letter continued. “But they will begin to open a door to allow the hard work of fixing the problems possible.”
Cooper said in a phone call Thursday afternoon that the decision to call for Smith’s resignation has been in the works for a while. After the discussion made its way through divisions of the institution, it was voted on by church representatives. She said there was not much disagreement.
“This is not an anti-police statement; this is an anti-process statement,” Cooper said. “As Presbyterians, we really believe people have the propensity to do great and amazing things, but they also have a culpability to bring harm to others.”
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who sits on the police board, said members “review the chief’s performance regularly.”
“I think those are discussions among the board, and I’m not debating his employment status or future here in public,” Lucas said.
Opinions about Smith’s performance as chief are sharply divided. Since protests last summer, a growing chorus of community leaders — including some normally aligned with the police department — have called for his resignation.
Among those who have called for Smith’s resignation or firing is Councilman Eric Bunch, who cited officers’ use of force and the city’s dramatic spike last year in non-fatal shootings and homicides.
Last year, several groups, including the Urban League of Kansas City, the Kansas City chapter of the NAACP and the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equality, asked that Smith resign. The board of the Indian Mound Neighborhood Association, which represents a neighborhood of about 10,000 in Historic Northeast, also called for him to resign.
Those who have voiced support for Smith include Councilwoman Heather Hall as well as officers and their relatives. Last year, for example, an officer’s wife told the board she feared Smith’s removal would cause morale within the force to become “nonexistent.”
Cooper said the church group believes Kansas City, and the rest of the country, need to have significant policy and practice reforms. She added that Kansas City needs a leader who is open to making those changes.
“We believe we really need to be speaking for and trying to protect and provide equal justice for all,” Cooper said.
The Star’s Allison Kite contributed reporting.
This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 2:37 PM.
