Secret meeting shows how panicked the KC police board is at the city having some say
The state-picked overlords of the Kansas City Police Department may sue Kansas City over the police reform package passed by the City Council last week. Because, of course, we’re supposed to fund the KCPD without having any say in how our money is spent, or how the department is run.
If the Board of Police Commissioners does sue the city, as it discussed doing in a secret emergency meeting on Monday, the city should return the favor and countersue.
But the board and the department should really take a deep breath and acknowledge the reform ordinances for what they are: an attempt to bring even a small measure of accountability to the police.
Meanwhile, pundits who couldn’t find Kansas City on a map are screaming about the outrage of ordinances they couldn’t possibly have read. Because no one — repeat, no one — is defunding the police, who as we’ve written before could actually end up receiving more funding as a result.
If the board does go ahead with legal action, lawsuits would be clarifying. They would force the state to explain to a judge why Kansas City should be treated differently from other cities, which can freely choose the policing they want and are willing to pay for.
That’s what Mayor Quinton Lucas said Monday after emerging from the secret police board meeting called at the last minute to discuss “potential litigation.”
He said the police board may sue the city over the recently-approved transfer of $42 million from the regular police budget to a new Community Services and Prevention Fund that would be used to fund several contracts with the KCPD.
“We welcome any type of litigation,” Lucas said. “I actually think the whole structure right now violates the Equal Protection clause. … The legislature has the view that it can tell the taxpayers of Kansas City you have to pay 90% of your budget to the police department. You have no voice.”
That has to change, and good for Lucas and a majority on the council for seeing that, and doing something about it.
Calls for a special session to smack Kansas City’s elected officials continued Monday.
In a radio interview, Gov. Mike Parson was noncommittal about calling a special session for that reason, but said “democracy (was) not followed” in the council’s decision to approve the ordinances.
On the contrary, this is what democracy looks like: Officeholders, chosen in a free and fair election, decided to spend the people’s money in a new way. Any attempt by the legislature or an unaccountable police board to override that decision is antidemocratic in the extreme.
“You know,” Parson said, “I don’t even know the details of it so I’ll be careful what I say. But here’s what I will say: Now is not the time to try any effects to defund the police department.
“Kansas City’s got one of the best police departments in the nation and to realize the support they need right now, the crime rate’s going up, compare Kansas City to Chicago, to Portland, to Minneapolis, to San Francisco, all cities have tried pretty radical changes. … We don’t want Kansas City like that. I don’t, as the governor and as somebody that goes to Kansas City a lot.”
Since he obviously doesn’t know the details, maybe he should have been more careful not to talk nonsense.
False rumors of layoffs, ‘defunding’ cuts
Legislators from the Northland said Monday they may try to block the ordinances by mandating that Kansas City spend even more of its budget on the police department. Apparently, the idea of giving Kansas City any say in how its own police department is extremely threatening.
So threatening that scaremongers are promoting dark rumors that layoffs in the police department are imminent, or massive cuts are coming from this effort to “defund” the police. These have no basis in fact.
The department has more than enough money to proceed without any changes to any policy in the immediate future. If the board or Police Chief Rick Smith pursue any other course, they are scaring the public needlessly. And they are not telling the truth.
We also have to watch the police board to make sure it follows the law. On Monday, The Star objected to the posted notice of the secret meeting because it seems to have violated the Sunshine Law. We’ll let you know how that turns out.
Kansas City followed both the law and precedent when it decided last week to take a new approach to policing.
Virtually nothing has changed in the year since the protests about local police brutality that followed George Floyd’s murder. Lucas and the council were right to force change, knowing full well how hysterical the reaction would be.