Speakers debate local control of Kansas City police as possible ballot issue
Sixteen people turned out to speak about possible local control of the Kansas City Police Department on Tuesday afternoon. More than 60 people submitted written comments.
Commenters attending the meeting were nearly evenly split on a proposed ordinance, though some who opposed the measure said they still supported local control.
The ordinance, introduced by Mayor Quinton Lucas last month, would ask Kansas City voters if they want to proceed with gaining local control of the police department and would establish that as a legislative priority. The question would go before voters on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The Kansas City Police Department has been under state control since 1939.
Clergy, civil rights groups and protesters have demanded local control, one of many calls for reform of the police department. Kansas City is the only city in Missouri, and one of the largest cities in the country, to not have local control of the police department. The department is instead controlled by the five-member Board of Police Commissioners, including Lucas, appointed by the governor.
The City Council’s Special Committee for Legal Review, responsible for hearing legislative proposals, listened to public comments during Tuesday’s meeting.
Some of those opposed said this ordinance isn’t the way to go about gaining local control. Others in opposition pointed to St. Louis, which adopted local control eight years ago.
Brad Lemon, president of the Kansas City Fraternal Order of Police, said Kansas City hasn’t had the same level of corruption since it lost local control. Lemon said the board hasn’t had anyone be indicted or charged with a crime. A person in the audience laughed at that.
“Local control only puts us in a position to have to listen and be forced to do what politicians want us to do because it’s a political favor,” Lemon said.
KCPD Deputy Chief Karen True spoke on behalf of Chief Rick Smith and read his prepared statement. In it, Smith said Kansas City police are held to a higher standard than St. Louis police because of state control. According to Smith, St. Louis has seen an increase in crime and debt because of local control.
In summarizing Smith’s points, True said: “We are open, we’re transparent, we welcome people to come to our meetings.”
A Board of Police Commissioners’ meeting in June was closed to the public. Outside, people demanded to be let in.
Justice Horn, who represented the Urban League of Kansas City and its Kansas City Police Accountability Task Force, said the organization opposes the ordinance, but supports local control. He called it a “useless ballot initiative” and said council members should go ahead and push for local control.
A second representative of the Urban League’s police accountability task force, Gavriela Geller, said putting the ordinance on the ballot would potentially confuse voters who might think they were voting directly for that control.
Establishing local control would take either a state law change from the Missouri legislature or approval of voters statewide of a ballot issue brought by citizen petition.
Other speakers cited the actions of Kansas City police at protests and the use of tear gas and pepper spray against protesters when calling for local control.
First Baptist Church pastor Stephen Jones said City Council members are elected because they are trusted by voters. Without local control, he said, the council members can’t help the police department “manage the current crisis of confidence that it faces,” or hold the department accountable.
Jones said the city has already done an effective job of managing city departments.
“The one department now most in crisis and most in need of listening to all segments of society is the police,” Jones said. “And right now, your voices are silent. This means it is time for you to step up to the plate and let our city set up a police governing structure that is accountable to you. And if it’s accountable to you, it’s also accountable to us: the city taxpayers and voters.”
Attorney Stacy Shaw, who has been vocal at recent protests, said the ordinance “represents politically attractive yet ineffective posturing.” Shaw said people living in the third and fifth districts have been disenfranchised for decades.
“If you have the ability to write thank you letters, you should have the courage to hold our police department accountable,” Shaw said, referencing a letter the council wrote to the police department to thank them for their work during the Chiefs’ championship parade, protests and the pandemic.
The council did not vote on the ordinance on Tuesday. Committee chair Councilman Kevin McManus said another meeting would be scheduled.
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 7:20 PM.
