Mayor Lucas wants to take local control of police to voters. Now, KC needs a landslide

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas took an important step Thursday to return management of the city’s police department to the community’s elected representatives, where it belongs.

Lucas proposed a November vote on making local police control a top legislative priority for Kansas City. For most of the city’s history, the police force has answered to a state-appointed governing board, an arrangement that has ill-served Kansas City and one that is all the more problematic at a moment when police reform has become an imperative.

Kansas City has talked about local police control for decades, and “people are tired of waiting,” Lucas said.

That’s true. At the same time, the mayor understands — and the rest of Kansas City must know — that a November vote would be largely advisory. Only the state of Missouri can return control of the Kansas City police to those who are policed.

But a decisive November vote would be a powerful symbol for Lucas and his colleagues to use as they try to convince the state to relinquish oversight of the department.

That’s why the City Council should put the question on the ballot. It’s also why the citizens of Kansas City will not only need to vote yes, but must do so in overwhelming numbers this fall.

On Thursday, Lucas said even a small margin of approval would be OK. Politically, he’s slightly off the mark. Lawmakers will respond more favorably to local control if there’s evidence of broad support for the idea here.

Kansas City needs a landslide. That means the referendum is just “one step,” as Lucas said.

The presidential election is in November. Turnout will be high. Supporters of local control will have to mount a well-financed, well-organized campaign for a “yes” vote. Groups such as the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Council will need to stop hemming and hawing and vigorously support the plan with their checkbooks.

Local control should be supported by every Missouri candidate in 2020, including those running for governor. Likely Democratic nominee Nicole Galloway has endorsed local control; Gov. Mike Parson has not. That’s important to know.

The Kansas City Fraternal Order of Police, and rank-and-file officers should informally support local control. Backing the idea now would enable the FOP to take part in fashioning the details of local control, including protections for an independent pension fund for officers. That’s largely how it worked in St. Louis.

If the FOP fights local control, and it happens anyway, officers will have a less significant role in charting the path forward. Members of the Board of Police Commissioners should also endorse local control.

A city committee is now examining ways the city might govern the department. The most common model? A board, appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council. There are other possibilities.

Should the police chief be subject to dismissal by the mayor, or council? Should an independent group of citizens play an oversight role in excessive force cases? Who should negotiate a contract with the FOP?

Most importantly, state law requires the city to spend at least 20% of its general fund on the police department. Will that number be changed? Eliminated? Enhanced? All are important issues the committee should address before the November vote.

Let’s be frank: Convincing a conservative legislature to approve local control will be extraordinarily difficult. The change could be made by petition and statewide referendum, but it would take resources to gather signatures statewide to force such an election. That would be costly.

The best answer seems clear: overwhelming local support in November, electing lawmakers who are open to local control, then an aggressive, relentless push for the legislature to do the right thing in 2021.

Missouri has controlled the Kansas City Police Department for as long as most Kansas Citians have been alive. We are closer than ever to ending that blight on the idea of self-government.

Kansas City must keep the pressure on.

This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 3:00 PM.