KCKPD says new officer recruiting class reflects diversity goals. See the numbers
.jpg "The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department Class 66 graduates are pictured in a recent photo.")
A new group of people may soon join the officers who patrol Kansas City, Kansas.
The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department lauded 20 graduates of their law enforcement academy during a Thursday evening ceremony. The class, which includes 17 men and three women from communities across the state and country, will be entrusted with the future of the city’s police department, spokesperson Nancy Chartrand told The Star.
KCKPD said the class, which is the department’s largest in recent years, represents its efforts for a diverse and dedicated police department in KCK. “We want our department to reflect the diverse community we serve,” Chartrand said.
Of the 20 graduates, 11 (55%) were white; six (30%) were Latino; two (10%) were Black and one (5%) was Hmong, according to the police department, meaning about 45% in the class were minorities, according to KCKPD. Five speak Spanish and one speaks Hmong, according to the department.
Their addition to the department will bring the total count of KCKPD officers to 328.
“Graduates, you now carry a badge that represents honor, responsibility and service,” Deputy Chief Kent Anderson said during the ceremony. “Protect it and protect each other. And never forget at the heart of the profession is the community you will be sworn to serve tonight.”
After their 22 weeks at the academy, graduates will move onto 14 weeks of field training,” Anderson said. He congratulated graduates on “the first milestone in a long career I hope all of you have.”
KCKPD Chief Karl Oakman didn’t attend in person due to a conflict, although he congratulated graduates in a pre-recorded message played during the ceremony.
Amid efforts for department-wide diversity, KCKPD is still largely staffed by officers who are men or who are white in Kansas’ most diverse city and county. About 44% of KCK’s population is white, according to census data.
In 2024, 86.5% of officers were men, and 221 of the 326 officers employed during that year were white, according to data provided by KCKPD. During that same year, KCKPD had 52 officers identified as Hispanic, 45 as Black, seven as Asian, and one as “other.” The department as of publication time had not provided more current data on its diversity.
The local police department has its own law enforcement academy, called the Michael Haen Police Academy in remembrance of a reserve officer who was accidentally shot and killed on duty in 1978, according to KCKPD.
The academy, located near College Parkway and State Avenue, is primarily tasked with training new recruits but also provides ongoing professional development and training.
“We are very proud of class 66 and believe they will do great things in our community,” Chartrand wrote in an email ahead of the ceremony.
Diversity low in KCPD
Across the state line in Missouri, the Kansas City Police Department found that its officers were less diverse than the city they patrolled.
A KCPD department headcount on Jan. 1, 2022 found that 16.4% of the department was made up of Black officers in a city where nearly 26% of the population is Black. Three years later, after an investigation by The Star and the U.S. Department of Justice, the department only grew less diverse.
As of Jan. 1, 2025, the number of Black officers within the department fell to 15.6%, according to a department spokesman.
This story was originally published January 13, 2026 at 6:07 AM.
