Gov. Parson, give Kansas City a police board more like the community it serves | Opinion
The new year brings an opening on the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners and an opportunity for Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to address a glaring omission: Zero women of color sit on the powerful police board today, and not one has served as a board commissioner since the mid-2000s.
Parson must be intentional with his choice to replace former Police Commissioner Don Wagner, whose retirement was effective Dec. 31, 2022. Parson has an obligation to seek input from local civic leaders, civil rights groups and community activists. The governor must listen to what residents want: a fair and practical police commissioner.
The vacant slot is expected to be filled in late February, according to Parson’s office. We believe Parson should strongly consider a minority female candidate. As with any public body, representation of the diversity of the community it serves is important on the police board. But the knowledge, skills and lived experiences of Black and other minority women are being left out of the policymaking decisions for the Kansas City Police Department.
Nearly three decades have gone by since the last Black female police commissioner, Stacey Daniels-Young, was first appointed to the police board. She served from 1995 to 2005.
“There should be a Black woman on the Kansas City Police Board,” said Gwen Grant, CEO and president of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City.
Under the police board’s current makeup, selection of the next commissioner is a critical step as new Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves works to renew trust between police and residents.
Over nearly two decades, only a handful of men of color have been appointed police commissioners. The overwhelming majority have been white men, according to public data we analyzed. In a city with nearly a 40% minority population, it is concerning that women of color have been left off the police board.
More shocking is that in almost 19 years, only one person appointed to the police board has lived in the area from east of Troost Avenue to Interstate 435, where the population is historically and majority Black — and where police spend most of their resources, according to civil rights advocates. Most board appointees have lived in the Country Club Plaza or Brookside areas of Kansas City, according to public records. No one on the current board resides in Kansas City’s 3rd Council District, an area routinely overpoliced, civil rights advocates contend.
Police respond to more calls for service and allocate considerable resources to police Kansas City’s urban core. It would make sense for residents of the 3rd District to have a voice on the police board, too. That’s good government.
Unlike most mayors in nearly every other major city, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and members of the City Council have little to no input on who sits on the police board. Thanks to an antiquated policing system that cuts the city out of almost all decisions about the police board, the responsibility to choose individual commissioners falls squarely on Parson.
Of the five police commissioners, only Lucas is accountable to the public. The other four are appointed by the governor.
“We need to have board members that recognize it is important to listen to the community and not just politicians in Jefferson City,” Lucas said. “We need board members out in the community. We need more people that are going to be engaged. That is more important than politics.”
Parson’s choice is an important one that could improve community relations with police in Kansas City, Lucas said.
“He won’t make local control (of the Kansas City Police Department) happen — and he should,” Lucas said. “But we must have a board that works for Kansas City, not for the police department. We could be one of the most innovative departments in America. I hope he takes that route.”
In Kansas City, the shadow of disgraced former Governor Eric Greitens still hangs over the commission. The former governor appointed Wagner and current police board President Mark Tolbert to their seats. Until Wagner stepped down, both were serving on expired terms. Will Tolbert follow Wagner out of the door?
According to Parson’s office, filling the current vacancy is and should be Parson’s top priority, and Tolbert’s slot on the board will be revisited as well. Good idea.
Parson must use the open spot on the police board as an opportunity to help restore faith in the Kansas City Police Department. The governor’s business-as-usual disdain for the taxpayers of our city cannot continue.