KC Democrats join GOP push for state control of St. Louis police. What’s it mean for KCPD?
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas urged Missouri lawmakers not to do it.
A slew of activists in Kansas City have long tried to end it locally.
But on Monday, a pair of Democratic state lawmakers from Kansas City backed a plan to place St. Louis police under state control. Missouri now stands on the brink of controlling the police forces in its two major cities.
Missouri state Sens. Patty Lewis and Maggie Nurrenbern, both Kansas City Democrats, voted in favor of a Republican-led bill that would seize control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
The bill, which passed the Senate on a vote of 27 to 5 and the House on a vote of 113 to 39, would put the city’s police department in the hands of a board largely appointed by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe.
Sen. Barbara Washington, another Democrat from Kansas City, was absent from the vote, citing a family emergency. Every Republican state senator and representative from the Kansas City area supported the plan.
The legislation, a key priority for Kehoe, now heads to the Republican governor’s desk. If signed, the arrangement would be almost identical to Kansas City — the only major U.S. city without direct control of its police force.
The GOP-controlled Senate could have passed the plan without support from Democrats. But the decision by two Kansas City Democrats has sparked confusion and frustration among local activists, who have long fought to bring Kansas City back in control of its own department.
The bipartisan vote also illustrates a longstanding belief among local leaders: Local control of the Kansas City Police Department is not going to come from lawmakers in Jefferson City.
“I am really disappointed that anyone in Kansas City would support state control of any other police department in the state,” said Lora McDonald, executive director of MORE2, a Kansas City group that has pushed for local control of the KCPD.
“Police are not susceptible to any changes in Kansas City because no one holds them accountable for anything,” she said. “They only are held accountable when a person sues them, yet that rarely leads to substantive change.”
Lewis, in a statement to The Star on Tuesday, said she supports local control of Kansas City and St. Louis police. But she cast doubt on the likelihood of the Republican-controlled General Assembly allowing that to happen in either city.
“Therefore, I evaluated the other provisions within (the bill) and determined that the improvements negotiated into the bill by Senate Democrats will help fight crime in Kansas City, strengthen our criminal justice system, and deserved my support,” she said.
Nurrenbern’s office declined comment when asked about her vote at the state Capitol on Tuesday.
When the Missouri House debated the legislation on Wednesday, nine of the 10 House Democrats from Kansas City voted against it. One, Rep. Melissa Douglas, voted “present.”
The legislation, which comes more than a decade after St. Louis regained control of its police through a statewide vote, could dampen efforts to bring local control to Kansas City. State control of police in the two cities anchoring either side of Missouri was originally born out of Civil War-era racism.
Today, both cities have high populations of Black and Hispanic residents — St. Louis with 48.2% combined, Kansas City with 38.1%. Both are led by Black mayors. And, the state’s two biggest cities also regularly elect more progressive politicians than other parts of Missouri.
“This is nothing short of a direct assault on democracy,” said Gwen Grant, president and CEO of Urban League of Greater Kansas City. “This is not about public safety—it’s about power and control. When a predominantly Black city makes decisions for itself, suddenly the rules change.”
Under Kansas City’s current system, the KCPD is governed by a five-member Board of Police Commissioners, with four appointed by the governor. Mayor Quinton Lucas fills the fifth seat.
The legislation passed on Monday calls for a similar arrangement in St. Louis: A six-member Board of Police Commissioners, with five gubernatorial appointees and the city’s mayor.
The system is largely supported by Missouri Republicans, who tout state control in both cities as a way to curtail violent crime. It’s the same argument Republicans used to push a statewide ballot measure that forced Kansas City to spend more of its general revenue budget on police.
Senate Majority Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican, celebrated the bill’s passage in a social media post on Tuesday. He said that it removes control of St. Louis police “from big-city mayors who want to defund the police.”
“We’re committed to making Missouri safer,” he said.
Crime in Kansas City
But state control in Kansas City has faced intense criticism from local activists and leaders, including Lucas. They argue it gives Jefferson City too much power over policing and shields the department from local accountability.
While Republicans have framed state control as a way to curtail crime in St. Louis, Kansas City has long struggled with rising crime.
The city recorded record and near-record numbers of homicides in recent years, even as homicides fell in many major cities across the country. Two years ago, 2023, was the deadliest on record, with 185 killings, according to a count kept by The Star.
Lucas had previously urged lawmakers to reject the legislation, writing in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial that no evidence “exists to believe that moving political accountability further away from the citizens of St. Louis will lead to better public safety outcomes.”
In a statement from spokesperson Megan Strickland, Lucas’ office declined to criticize Kansas City Democrats for supporting the legislation, saying he “appreciates the hard work our Kansas City senators do each day.”
Lewis, in her statement on Tuesday, pointed to fact that Republicans supportive of state control have a firm grip on both chambers of the General Assembly and hold every statewide office in Missouri.
“Republican leaders will not allow local control to return to St. Louis or Kansas City,” she said. “This is unfortunate, as rising crime in Kansas City is a serious problem and improving public safety is one of my top priorities.”
The bipartisan vote came after Senate Democrats mounted a filibuster and were able to tack onto the legislation several concessions. Some provisions were removed from the original bill, such as a required minimum number of police officers to be on the force.
Other Democrat-backed policies were also added to the bill, including a ban on shackling of pregnant prisoners, a fund that would pay restitution to exonerated prisoners and a cap on how much jails and prisons can charge for phone calls.
“These improvements will make all our communities – including Kansas City – a safer place to live and work,” Lewis said.
Before Monday’s vote, Sen. Steve Roberts, a St. Louis Democrat, told reporters that he could not support the broader legislation, saying it allowed “the state to take power and accountability away from local elected leaders.”
But he understood why some Democrats might support it.
“However, because of the important improvements that myself and the other senators made to this bill, I understand that other members of my caucus will need to evaluate it on its totality as it relates to their districts,” he said.
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 5:18 PM.
