‘Flabbergasted.’ Short-staffed KC police sent officers to RNC. Should they have?
The decision by Kansas City police to send officers to help at the Republican National Convention, at a time when the department is understaffed, is being questioned by some.
In July, the Kansas City Police Department sent 30 officers to Milwaukee where they worked alongside law enforcement officers from Wisconsin and across the country. The KC officers were sent to provide “overnight perimeter security,” said Capt. Jake Becchina, a police spokesman.
“The costs incurred by KCPD for the assistance were reimbursed by the RNC,” Becchina said.
Even so, some activists question why the department chose to assist the political convention when the department is down about 300 officers.
Sheryl Ferguson, the founder of It’s Time 4 Justice, a Kansas City-based activist organization that has frequently spoken out against allegations of police brutality, said she was “flabbergasted” by the decision.
“We constantly keep hearing about how we don’t have enough officers on patrol and we’re actually going to send them somewhere else?” Ferguson said. “Doesn’t make sense to me.”
Ferguson also appeared to point to a recent statewide vote that forced Kansas City to spend more of its budget on police, saying if KCPD “worked more on training their officers to not be so violent, they wouldn’t need so much money.”
In July of 2023, Becchina said, the Milwaukee police department reached out to several agencies for assistance with the convention which was held nearly two months ago. And KCPD was one of them, he said.
“KCPD’s role in assisting agencies outside of the immediate Metro is not anything new,” Becchina said in an email. “... KCPD helped during the Joplin tornado, the Pope’s visit to St. Louis, and the 2021 Inauguration of President Biden. KCPD will again be helping in the 2025 Presidential Inauguration.”
Added Officer Alayna Gonzalez, a police spokeswoman: “KCPD has attempted to be responsive in providing assistance when requested of us from outside agencies, despite officer vacancies.”
KCPD move faces criticism
The department’s decision to help in Milwaukee has come under scrutiny after revelations that the Missouri State Highway Patrol sent troopers to the RNC. The move also drew criticism from some lawmakers and others as the patrol suffers from a shortage of troopers.
On its Facebook page, the patrol posted a photo of the 30 troopers at the RNC. Several people questioned the decision and wondered if troopers would be sent to the Democratic National Convention as well.
Neither the patrol nor KCPD received a request for assistance from the Chicago Police Department or the Democratic National Convention, each agency said.
Lauren Bonds, executive director for the National Police Accountability Project, a nonprofit that promotes law enforcement accountability, also questioned the decision.
“While it’s not uncommon for law enforcement agencies to send personnel to assist with security at large events, you usually see this type of support from large departments with a lot of capacity,” Bonds said. “KCPD’s decision to send officers is difficult to square with their claims that they have staffing shortages.”
In response to the staffing shortage, the department in January changed from a 10-hour shift for all patrol division officers to an 11-hour shift.
At that time, department officials said the change would “deploy more officers on the street during peak times,” according to a police news release in early January. “It will reduce response times and provide officers the opportunity to proactively address crime issues.”
Kansas City is the only city in Missouri that does not directly control its police force. A five-member board of police commissioners oversees the department. The governor appoints four while Mayor Quinton Lucas fills the remaining spot.
Lucas spokesperson Jazzlyn Johnson directed all questions about KCPD’s decision to KCPD and the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, saying only that Lucas “does not make deployment decisions.”
After the Aug. 28 shooting of local chef Shaun Brady in Brookside, Lucas noted police staffing “challenges.” He also said the department needed to increase patrols in areas where crime was an ongoing issue.
Police, he said, needed to return to a policy of arresting for all law and ordinance violations, “even if only to intervene in criminal activity, to show some certainty and swiftness of consequences.”
Rep. Jeff Coleman, a Grain Valley Republican, said in an interview that he understood some of the criticism about KCPD’s move but added that he couldn’t say whether it was the wrong decision because it’s something that a local police department should decide.
Coleman made clear that he supports the police. He said he was concerned about the shortage of officers.
“I’m not sure why we would send people away,” he said. “I can see the Highway Patrol, but … from a personal standpoint, I’m not sure why Kansas City has to send somebody.”
