‘They have no accountability’: Kansas City rights groups back move to control police
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Politics of the KCPD
The Kansas City Police Department is controlled by a five-member board of police commissioners, four of whom are appointed by Missouri’s governor. The arrangement is highly unusual for a big city and periodically becomes of a point of public debate.
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A group of seven civil rights organizations gathered in Kansas City Tuesday to support a City Council plan to give local leaders some say in a part of the police department’s budget.
Standing on the steps of City Hall, leaders from the Urban League of Kansas City, MORE2 and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City voiced their support for the measure put forth by Mayor Quinton Lucas and passed by the City Council last week.
The City Council on Thursday voted 9-4 to cut this year’s Kansas City Police Department budget back to 20% of the general fund, the minimum required by Missouri law. The savings, which come to $42.3 million, would be reallocated to a newly devised “Community Services and Prevention Fund.”
Under the measure, Kansas City Manager Brian Platt and the police commissioners would negotiate on how to spend that money. The $42.3 million is about 18% of the KCPD’s $239 million budget.
Ahead of the news conference Tuesday, Gwen Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Kansas City, issued a statement asserting that the city is not getting a good return on the money it spends on policing. She pointed to high rates of violent crime and the low number of homicides solved by police.
Kansas City saw a record number of homicides in 2020. Of 176 homicides counted by police, 91 were cleared, according to the department’s statistics.
“It is unconscionable that we are the only city in the state of Missouri, that does not have local control,” Grant said. “It is unconscionable that we have to invest more than $200 million a year to pay for services from the Kansas City Police Department yet, they have no accountability, no requirement to report to those of us who fund them.”
The Kansas City Police Department is governed by a five-member board. Most of the members are appointed by the governor, though the mayor always has a seat.
Also joining the news conference in support of the city measure were representatives of the NAACP, the National Black United Front-KC and the Presbyterian Urban and Immigrant Ministry Network.
The Rev. Vernon P. Howard with the SCLC called the actions by Lucas and those council members who voted in favor of the dual measures, “bold and courageous.”
“We applaud the mayor. We applaud the city council members who voted for such and all of those who have the moral courage,” Howard said. “The moral courage to take the political hits, the moral courage to be unpopular, the moral courage to do the right thing.”
“And we believe that this is it,” he said.
Several speakers added to calls that Police Chief Rick Smith be removed, saying a change in leadership on the police board is also needed.
The Rev. Rodney Williams, president of the Kansas City branch of the NAACP, called the mayor’s action a bold move to help ensure minority voices are heard.
“Not only is this a radical move in the right direction. It is also a smart one,” Williams said. “It is smart because it is not defunding the police department. Rather, it raises the level of accountability for the police department to operate, because as it stands in the present moment, our police department is operating without any accountability to the citizens that pay taxes, or to any other entity.
“When there is no police accountability, there is no equal protection under the law.”
Police consider lawsuit
On Monday, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners voted 3-1 to explore the possibility of a lawsuit after the city’s action.
Commissioners also agreed to form a subcommittee consisting of board members Nathan Garrett and Cathy Dean, who will work with outside attorneys to determine what legal options the board could pursue.
The subcommittee would review what legal action may be “necessary and appropriate to enforce the Board’s rights, responsibilities, and authorities” under Missouri law, according to minutes from a closed session.
Lucas voted against both measures. Bishop Mark Tolbert, who serves as the board president, did not attend the meeting.
Lucas was the only one of the five-member board to attend the meeting in person. Other board members participated in the closed session via telephone.
Garrett said he and the other board members were taken by surprise by the City Council’s actions.
“We are still evaluating the matter, but would have much preferred to have had notice and the opportunity for direct communication with the City before the defunding ordinances were introduced and passed,” Garrett told The Star.
“Not sure all who voted understood the practical effect (or timing), but the fuse was lit once passed and we have to evaluate and implement whatever action we deem most appropriate in very short order lest we cannot fund our most crime critical divisions,” he said.
Lucas, who did not attend the press conference, has said previously that he welcomes litigation over police funding.
He said Kansas City may have a legal argument under the Equal Protection Clause under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which says people have to be treated the same under the law.
“Something that I’ve heard fairly consistently is folks saying why don’t we become as creative as possible in trying to solve these core needs in our community,” Lucas said after the news conference at City Hall.
“I want to stop murders in Kansas City. And the people who spoke earlier today want to see a stop in the number of homicides and shootings we have in Kansas City and that’s what this needs to be about.”
Republicans in the Missouri General Assembly have said they will consider legislation that would either increase the amount of money that Kansas City is required to spend on policing or use federal coronavirus relief funds to make up any shortfall or cuts to the KCPD budget.
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 3:27 PM.
