Additional $33 million for Kansas City police will not be under the control of the city
After months of debate between city and police leaders, Kansas City will not have full discretion over $33 million KCPD will receive in the next municipal budget — money that exceeds the state-mandated minimum.
In all, the Kansas City Police Department will have $269 million to spend during the fiscal year that begins May 1.
Elected city officials have been angling for a way to assert more direct control over how the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners (BOPC) spends the city’s tax dollars. The $33 million, known as the Community Policing and Prevention Fund, was initially pitched as a vehicle for providing the department additional money, but with strings attached.
Under legislation approved by the Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee committee Wednesday, the Board of Police Commissioners is promising to spend the extra funds in a way laid out by the city. It also provides a path for the City Manager to review the department’s books, potentially alleviating some concerns.
The measure, introduced by Mayor Quinton Lucas earlier this month, is expected to pass the full Council on Thursday.
“There will be a lot of different opinions today, but I think you can leave this meeting and see that the City Council has had real authority in terms of how money will be spent at the Kansas City Police Department,” Lucas said.
But the reception was cooler among other elected leaders, including Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, 4th District at-large, who attempted to amend the measure with stricter guidelines. Shields, who also served on the council from 1987 to 1994, told of city officials being kept in the dark about police spending — and appeared unconvinced about the prospects for a big change.
Under Missouri law, Kansas City is required to set aside at least 20% of its general revenue for the Board of Police Commissioners, which then makes policy and spending decisions for the police department. The five-member panel is appointed by the governor with the exception of the mayor, who has the power to cast a vote.
The governance structure, unlike virtually any other in the nation, is a remnant of the Pendergast Era when the state took control of the police department in the wake of extreme municipal corruption. Many Kansas City policymakers and activists have spent years seeking local control of the police criticizing the existing setup as one that lacks proper citizen oversight.
COUNCIL FIGHT
The Wednesday hearing focused on differences between city officials over exactly how much control the Board of Police Commissioners should have over the $33 million.
Lucas’s proposed ordinance outlined how he, Smith and the BOPC agreed the money should be spent: $4 million to hire officers, $5.1 million for raises, $4.6 million for dedicated patrol and community outreach staff, $6.5 million for 911 call-takers and communications unit operations and so on. Lucas’s plan would give them the money in one payout.
Kansas City police commissioner Cathy Dean testified Wednesday in support of Lucas’ ordinance. More than 100 members of the police department sat in the chambers behind her.
Shields proposed that the Board of Police Commissioners effectively apply for the money. The dollars would then be doled out in a form similar to grants.
Shields’ proposal did not pass. Only three council members voted in support of the amendment, which needed four votes to pass through the committee. Shields, Melissa Robinson, 3rd District, and Lee Barnes, 5th District at-large, voted in support. Heather Hall, 1st District, Ryana Parks-Shaw, 5th District, and Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McManus voted no.
The Lucas measure cleared the committee without opposition.
“All we can do is pass the budget and see if in fact they do comply,” Shields said.
Lucas expects a similar result when the full council votes Thursday.
Community Policing and Prevention Fund
About $4 million of the additional funding is expected to fill 88 sworn officers positions, bringing the total number of officers to 1,232, city council members said Wednesday.
But some council members doubted the positions would all be filled.
Robinson said while Lucas’s amendment offers certainty to the police department, she said it doesn’t provide the same to residents in her district who often say there aren’t enough officers and that 911 response times are too slow. In the past, the department hasn’t always lived up to their end of the deal, she said.
Last May, Lucas and a supermajority of the council removed $42 million from the police budget and voted to require the police commissioners to negotiate with the city on how it would be spent. The goal was to fund the police at the required 20% threshold while allowing the city to control how funding above that amount was spent.
The board sued, and in October Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Patrick W. Campbell ruled that the council was interfering with the board’s “exclusive management and control” of the police department. But Campbell’s ruling left a path for Lucas and the council to make such changes during the city’s annual spring budget cycle.
Councilman Kevin O’Neill, 1st District, said he supported Lucas’ ordinance because it provided clarity on how much the department would ultimately get.
“We already have a problem in Jeff City, and we are creating more opportunities for the state to come down harder on us and actually impose more stringent appropriations by the city to the department,” O’Neill said.
While he again called the lack of local control a “colonial system,” he said there’s been an improvement in the level of trust between himself and the BOPC since last May. He believes the BOPC will hire a sufficient number of officers to police the city without diverting the funds to lawsuits, or other professional expenses, as he said they’ve done in years past.
Lucas said with the selection of an interim and permanent police chief on the horizon, he believes it’s increasingly important to build trust and engagement between the council and BOPC.
Funding above the statutory minimum
Over the past few weeks, several community members have publicly testified against KCPD receiving anything above the state’s statutory minimum.
John Simpson with the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, opposed the ordinance, asking that the city instead create a special fund for criminal justice reforms.
“The past actions of the police department have not reduced violent crime in our city,” he said. “Putting more officers on the street doing the same old thing has not worked.”
Kansas City saw its second-deadliest year on record in 2021 with 157 killings, according to data maintained by The Star. In 2020, 182 people were killed, making it the worst year on record. So far this year, 31 have died.
But at the Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith said that withholding the $33 million and only funding the department at the statutory minimum, would be detrimental, causing hundreds of positions to be cut.
“Our workload continues to go up, yet our resources continue to go down,” he said. “We don’t have enough cops to run this city.”
Lucas, who sits on the board, agreed at the meeting that only funding the department at 20% “wouldn’t be a responsible approach to accountability.”
On Wednesday, a Major with East Patrol testified that as a graduate of an HBCU who is trying to recruit more HBCU alumni to KCPD, her efforts are often stymied by budget uncertainty.
Shields after the meeting told The Star that cutting department positions was never an intention of council members, but rather an act of “intimidation” by members of the department since the BOPC would still have access to the $33 million if they complied with how the funding had been agreed upon.
Lucas assured council members that if, over the course of quarterly audits by the City Auditor, they learned KCPD was miss-spending the $33 million, next year’s budget debate will look very different.
“Don’t get me wrong .... I think there is a huge trust problem and deficit right now between not just the police board and the city council, but perhaps the police board and the entire community,” Lucas said. “We have a lot of work to do to bridge that.”
The Star’s Bill Lukitsch contributed.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 2:35 PM.
