Adkins warns Kansans of riots and ‘dangerous forces.’ Critics say that’s not reality
Amanda Adkins’ campaign has spent the summer warning that police are under attack.
The Republican candidate in Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District has signed The Police Pledge, drafted by the conservative group Heritage Action to oppose defunding law enforcement, which it calls society’s protection against “mob rule and violent insurrection.”
In her first general election TV spot, the former Kansas Republican chair refers to unnamed “dangerous forces within” as an image of demonstrators burning a flag flashes across the screen.
It’s unclear where the photo was taken. But it does not reflect recent events in the district that encompasses Johnson, Wyandotte and Miami counties.
Protests this summer calling for police reform in Kansas City, Kansas, Overland Park, Prairie Village and Olathe have been largely peaceful. Of the four arrests made, three were for walking in the street in a residential area.
Critics in Johnson and Wyandotte counties say Adkins’ messaging shows she is out of touch and promoting a false narrative to alarm Republican voters.
“It’s pure dog whistle politics,” said Marcus Winn of the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, a social justice advocacy group active in police reform efforts. “It’s trying to scare the hell out of white people and scare them into voting for you.”
In an interview, Adkins acknowledged that the violence and disorder are outside of the 3rd District. But she said voters she’s talked to are concerned nonetheless, and so is she.
“You just don’t know how and where it possibly could happen,” she said, citing Kenosha, Wisconsin in the days following an Aug. 23 police shooting that left a man paralyzed. She also mentioned homicide rate in Kansas City, Missouri, which is on a record breaking trajectory.
“I think that people across the country and here recognize that it is a very tumultuous time period and there are high emotions.
Winn and other critics have urged Adkins— and her Democratic opponent, Rep. Sharice Davids — to sit down with those who have had poor experiences with police to get a genuine understanding of the issue and make informed policy decisions.
Adkins says she supports peaceful protests and more support for the Black community nationwide. However, she said, people are already scared.
“The fear already exists. There have been so many problems in this country I think it’s only heightened in the last couple weeks with other things that are happening in the political environment,” Adkins said. “When you bring together those elements of high stakes and high emotions unfortunately some things happen.”
A nationwide conversation
Adkins’ strong focus on law and order mirrors the message coming from the White House and adopted by conservative candidates nationwide.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned voters that rioters will take over American cities if former vice president Joe Biden wins the presidency. Missouri Governor Mike Parson has made similar claims of lawlessness and activated the National Guard on Thursday after another round of protests erupted nationwide.
The warnings followed protests that erupted early this summer after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd.
The killing, and other instances of Black Americans dying in encounters with police, galvanized a national movement this summer. The outrage intensified again last week when a Kentucky grand jury announced there would be no charges filed for the killing of Breonna Taylor during a drug raid in March.
Calls for change ranged from more training to partial defunding of police forces or a complete abolition of local police departments.
In an interview, Adkins said she believes some broad-based police reforms are needed. She said she supports tracking and transparency for bad actors, funding for body cameras and increased transparency for police department policies governing use of deadly force.
Police departments in the 3rd District, she said, can be a model for good recruiting and retention policies.
“My goal always is improvement and impact for individuals and families with security being one of the top areas of focus for me as a candidate,” she said.
But on her website, Adkins says that “important conversations” which began this summer were overtaken.
“That conversation has been hijacked by radicals who, in the face of rioting, arson, and violence, want to defund the police. Unlike my opponent, I firmly reject the radicals and their anti-police agenda,“ she says in a quote posted to her website.
Adkins and the Kansas Republican party have attempted to link Davids to this end of the spectrum. In a new mailer, the state GOP features side-by-side photos of Davids and Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat who has called for the defunding and even dismantlement of police departments.
The images are under the headline, “Sharice Davids Stands with Anti-Police Radicals.” Along the bottom, the mailer says “Davids is for Chaos and Destruction Not Law and Order.”
In a statement to The Star, Davids said she voted for legislation to improve training and increase transparency and accountability for police. She does not, however, support defunding the police.
“Too many lives have been lost to injustice and brutality in this country. Kansans and people across the country are raising their voices and demanding change, and that’s exactly what this moment calls for,” Davids said.
“Police officers play an essential role in our communities, which is why I’ve voted to fund training and equipment for law enforcement and to improve community policing and response to school emergencies. I also support improving mental health and addiction programs, so we can remove them from law enforcement’s mission and allow officers to focus on the task at hand of keeping our community safe.”
Speaking at a protest in June, Davids said it was important to reflect on the abolition of slavery and “recognize that there’s still a fight for freedom that’s going on for so many people in our country.”
Patrick Wotruba, CEO of The Miller Dream LLC who organized a July protest in Overland Park where four were arrested, said neither candidate in the 3rd District goes far enough to address police reform.
Wotruba advocates for a version of police defunding and would like to see half of every police department’s budget diverted to social services.
The reform suggested by Davids, Wotruba said, is “where we’ve been at all our lives.”
“It’s always reform, reform, reform, and it doesn’t work,” Wotruba said.
He added that the suggestions by political candidates that the movement against police brutality is violent encourages violence against protesters from those who disagree.
Local concerns
The 3rd District is not a stranger to scandal and complaints about policing. Several lawsuits have been brought in recent years against the Kansas City, Kansas, police department alleging police brutality and misconduct. One alleges a KCK detective used sexual coercion to manipulate women into providing fabricated statements to obtain a wrongful conviction in the 90s.
In Johnson County, the Overland Park Police Department has been criticized for officers’ behavior at a July protest when four demonstrators were arrested.
Federal authorities announced Thursday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas had opened a civil rights investigation into the 2018 killing of 17-year-old John Albers. It was revealed this summer that the officer who shot Albers outside his Overland Park home was paid $70,000 as part of a separation agreement.
Adkins declined to comment on the investigation into the shooting which occurred three miles away from her Overland Park home., saying she did not know enough about the federal inquiry.
In June, the Advocacy and Awareness Group of Johnson County launched with a march in downtown Overland Park. Davids spoke at the march as did Overland Park police chief Frank Donchez. Adkins did not.
The march featured more than 100 Johnson County residents, focused on discussing and remedying systemic racism in the county.
Grant Mayfield, community liaison and research chair for the organization, said the march and subsequent events showed that there is a growing understanding and concern for racial equity and police reform in Johnson County. People he said, have slowly gained a better understanding of the challenges people of color face in the community .
“Anytime you get 500 some people in Overland Park the majority of which, I would say are probably white or 300 people in Prairie Village calling for change if your response is that police are under attack then you don’t understand what the issue is and you’re not listening to what we’re saying.” Mayfield said.
“It’s not that the militant left has taken on violence. It’s that normal regular centrist moderate people are realizing that the system does not work.”
Though Adkins hasn’t attended Black Lives Matter protests she has attended back the blue demonstrations. She said that she’s worried about suggestions that police should be defunded or abolished.
One of the reasons people live in the third district, Adkins said, is for safety and security which she says is at risk.
“You don’t have safety and security if you don’t have a police force that is well funded well equipped staffed and trained,” Adkins said.
