The Kansas City Star looks into the Wyandotte County sheriff’s race | Opinion

Wyandotte County voters have a choice to make Nov. 4 for sheriff. It’s a troubling decision for several reasons.

We have concerns with both candidates. One, incumbent Sheriff Daniel Soptic, has seen a difficult time in his office, with staff shortages he hasn’t been able to correct and a jail inmate’s death at the hands of a deputy.

His challenger, Celisha Towers, hasn’t been active in law enforcement for five years and hasn’t run much of a public campaign for the general election.

We see endorsements as our duty to help guide voters in difficult decisions. However, this time we lay down that duty by choosing not to endorse in this race. We have to be truthful and give you the facts as we see them.

Daniel Soptic

The current sheriff, who has led the department since 2021, is the better choice of the two in our viewpoint simply because of four years on the job and a long tenure with the department.

However, we can’t ignore the July 2025 jail death, and criminal charges against a deputy who worked there.

Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Fatherley was charged with second degree murder for the killing of inmate Charles Adair when an autopsy revealed that he died in the Wyandotte County Detention Center after an officer knelt on his back.

The problems with the Adult Detention Center are multiplied when considering that Soptic was warden in 2020, before he became sheriff, so he has knowledge of the needs there. Unconfirmed reports that training was lax is concerning, too.

KHSB-TV reported that the probable cause affidavit states “that deputies who were interviewed after Adair’s death shared the last time they had a refresher to review hands-on techniques was three to five years ago.”

According to the Unified Government’s website, “The Sheriff’s Office is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the county jail and providing charge and custody of the Adult and Juvenile Detention facilities.”

Also, Soptic hasn’t been able to crack what he called “one of our biggest problems facing Wyandotte County” — recruiting. And that connects to understaffing and morale concerns in his department.

Soptic spoke to The Star Editorial Board in July before the primary, but did not accept our invitation in advance of the general election. Then, he said: “It’s hard to find people that want to start off their law enforcement career working in detention because that’s where we hire in everybody. They start in detention.”

It’s good that Soptic knows the problems, but the buck stops with his office. He has been unable to solve the issue of staffing, which could be said to be the cause of multiple problems in the division.

In a conversation with a Star news reporter, he said they have been trying new things. “Everything from our continued community engagement, increasing of our recruitment efforts, accreditation for the agency, all the things that we’ve undertaken the last three and a half years … we’re ready to see some of that stuff come to fruition.”

We hope, but are not convinced, those efforts will pay off.

Soptic’s early career was with KCK’s park rangers, which merged with the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office in 2009. He has worked in investigations and operations, and was transferred to oversee the Community and Support Services Division before becoming warden and then sheriff.

If he wins, he will need to repair these problems.

Celisha Towers

We don’t know much about Towers’ latest campaign for sheriff. She has an old Facebook page from her 2021 campaign but no updated page or campaign website that we can find. It appears she did participate in her winning primary campaign in two forums over the summer.

The editorial board reached out to her then, but after corresponding with her, was unable to confirm an interview time. She has not responded to subsequent requests for a new interview.

Towers, who has run for sheriff in 2017 and 2021, has filed two lawsuits — one against the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, alleging discrimination after she was dismissed as a sheriff’s deputy for violating its residence policy, and one alleging election fraud and misconduct. A federal judge dismissed her claims of election fraud earlier this year.

In the discrimination case, a Star news story shows court records note that settlements were enforced in the case in December 2018.

She, as anyone, has the right to sue, and we don’t knock her for that. Instead, we are concerned about her lack of experience.

She was hired as a deputy in 2013 and dismissed in 2017, and has not worked in law enforcement since. The Star’s news report mentioned her law enforcement officer license lapsed in 2021, according to records.

It also mentioned an erratic letter to The Star from her campaign email account.

We don’t believe she is the best choice to run the sheriff’s department.