Wife of former KCPD sergeant picked for police board. ‘Shame on Kehoe,’ activists say
Gov. Mike Kehoe on Friday named former Kansas City City Council member Heather Hall as his pick to fill a vacancy on the Board of Police Commissioners.
Hall, who is married to retired KCPD Sgt. Eben Hall, will replace Dawn Cramer on the five-member board charged with overseeing the largest law enforcement agency in Missouri.
Police accountability advocates condemned the pick on Friday afternoon, questioning Hall’s objectivity and willingness to hold officers accountable for misconduct.
“She’s demonstrated zero ability to be an objective person when it comes to KCPD, consistently serving as a cheerleader for the department,” said Lora McDonald, executive director of the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equality.
“Hall is a conflict of interest and everyone knows it,” McDonald added. “Shame on Gov. Kehoe.”
Hall, who did not respond to requests for comment, will serve as an acting member of the board pending confirmation from the Missouri Senate next session. Four members are appointed by the governor and as Kansas City mayor, Quinton Lucas occupies a fifth spot.
During her run as the lone conservative member of the city council, Hall voiced opposition to reinstating local control over the force and advocated for removing the Kansas City residency requirement for police officers.
Hall also worked alongside former Kansas City police commissioner John Dillingham to raise money for the construction of a Law Enforcement Memorial Garden behind the regional police academy in Northland.
“Heather is a common-sense leader who will serve our community with integrity,” said First District City Council member Nathan Willett in a news release, pointing to Hall’s volunteer work on behalf of homeless veterans and children with disabilities.
Sheryl Ferguson, an organizer with It’s Time 4 Justice, called Hall “the worst appointment ever.”
“She doesn’t know how to interact with her city outside of her bubble,” Ferguson said.
“There’s nothing wrong necessarily with being pro-cop, except for when you have cops that are vilifying certain neighborhoods in Kansas City,” she said. “And until the governor sees fit that there needs to be an appointment from those neighborhoods to the board, you’re never going to have a board that works for the city.”
Ferguson pointed to costly KCPD settlements paid out in connection with police brutality and misconduct incidents as evidence of the need to refocus on the communities police are meant to serve.
“You’re never going to be able to establish a bond with the impoverished communities when you have a Ku Klux Klan environment,” Ferguson said.
This story was originally published July 11, 2025 at 4:53 PM.
