Thanks for nothing, Mayor Q: Your loss of nerve just cost KC any hope of local control
Kansas City councilwoman Katheryn Shields said Thursday morning she won’t try again to bring accountability to the police department in this year’s budget.
In an interview, Shields said her effort to enable city oversight of $33 million in police funding got a full debate Wednesday and lost on a tie vote. There’s no need, Shields said, to try again.
Shields deserves enormous credit for raising this issue and working tirelessly to enact actual reform. The police department’s brazen disregard for representative government infuriates much of the community, but only Shields (with essential help from councilwoman Melissa Robinson) came close to bringing limited responsibility to the police.
Now, fingers will be pointed. We’re disappointed in councilwoman Ryana Parks-Shaw, a member of the Finance Committee who cast the crucial vote against the Shields plan. She’ll have to explain to constituents why she voted against accountability.
But Mayor Quinton Lucas deserves most of the blame. He was the first to raise the issue of partial local control, pushing through an ordinance last May that promised reform and accountability for the Kansas City police.
The department detests real supervision, of course, so it sued, costing local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Judge Patrick Campbell said police budget changes are only possible in the spring, at budget time. He was wrong, but he is a judge, so the ruling stuck.
That’s when Mayor Lucas began his retreat. There was no appeal of Campbell’s ruling, so it remains in effect. Then, early this year, he gave the police department nearly everything it wanted through negotiations, eliminating any meaningful city oversight.
He opposed the Shields plan Wednesday. He’ll get his way Thursday. One council member said real police reform became impossible when Lucas caved. And here we are.
And for what? Does the mayor truly believe he’ll escape criticism for “defunding” the police? Will state lawmakers reconsider their appalling effort to dictate government choices in Kansas City? Of course not.
Kansas City has argued for local control of its department for decades. It had the opportunity this week to take a small step in that direction. It declined to do so. It’s now clear Lucas’ approach, launched last May, has set the cause back for decades to come.
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 12:00 AM.