Why doesn’t KC control its own police department? It’s past time to tackle this issue

Kansas City Councilwoman Melissa Robinson’s resolution requiring City Manager Troy Schulte to commission a study on the advantages and disadvantages of local control of the police department could be a good first step toward improving accountability and reducing crime.

The first-time council member understands the devastating impact of Kansas City’s violent crime epidemic, and she is willing to start the conversation. But who among her colleagues will join her?

“There’s a great deal of conversation as it relates to public safety,” Robinson said. “As that conversation develops, individuals are looking at accountability. This resolution basically allows us as a city to get on one accord.”

The measure has been tabled until next month, but it’s far past time for the Kansas City Council to have a serious conversation about taking the reins of the police department. Commissioning an in-depth analysis of the potential benefits and perils of local control is essential.

The full City Council should instruct Schulte to analyze the issue and solicit citizen input and guidance from law enforcement officials.

Kansas City is the only city in Missouri — and one of the largest in the nation — that doesn’t run its own police force. The Missouri legislature signed off on St. Louis regaining control of its department in 2013.

In Kansas City, a five-person commission appointed by the governor oversees the police department. Mayor Quinton Lucas is the only local elected official on the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners. The mayor has been noncommittal on the question of local control, but is open to discussing the issue.

Since 1939, Kansas City has little say over how its police department operates. Not surprisingly, Kansas City police favor state control.

The independence and autonomy of the police board is a positive, said Nathan Garrett, president of the police board. Police commissioners are unencumbered by local or state politics, he said.

The board is filled with political appointments, though, which doesn’t exactly take politics out of the equation.

Some Kansas City Council members have been reluctant to make a change. But why don’t Kansas City officials want to take ownership of the agency and its $262 million city-approved budget?

For starters, when the council doesn’t control the police department, it shoulders less of the blame when crime rates soar. And as Lucas has said, local control would not be a panacea for the epidemic of gun violence besieging Kansas City.

But in a city with 129 homicides through last week, continuing with the current failing model is no longer acceptable. A recent rash of shootings left three people dead in a span of less than five hours.

Who is responsible for the carnage, though? Is it Lucas? Or Schulte, the city manager? Are members of the City Council culpable, or is Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith to blame?

Is the onus on Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, who appoints the police board? Or are Garrett and the police commissioners responsible?

Too often, there is a lack of accountability. And the buck doesn’t seem to stop anywhere.

Instituting local control could and should make the police department more transparent and more responsive to citizens. Top law enforcement officials should answer to local elected officials.

For too long, the City Council has tip-toed around this issue, offering vague murmurs of support for local control without ever tackling this head-on. Now is the time to get serious about this subject.

With her resolution, Robinson has laid out a road map for a carefully considered approach that could finally end Kansas City’s reign as one of the largest cities in the nation without control of its own police department.