Overland Park sets an example in police transparency. Other cities should follow it | Opinion

The people of Overland Park had trust issues surrounding the city’s police force. On the campaign trail for mayor in 2021, Curt Skoog says he heard about it from community leaders and many “constituents on the campaign trail”.

Then, at the last of the three Overland Park mayoral candidate forums, hosted by MORE2 and the Johnson County NAACP at Overland Park Christian Church on July 24, 2021, the mayor-to-be was asked what he would do to address disparate arrest statistics by race.

“If elected,” he said, “I will make those statistics and our city’s policing data available online”.

It was a bold campaign pledge, to be sure — a pledge that gave hope for improved police-community relations. But campaign pledges are not always kept.

Fast forward to Nov. 30, 2022, less than 12 months after Mayor Skoog took office. I received an ecstatic text from Sheila Albers: “THIS JUST HAPPENED!” Attached to the text was this link to a brand new “police transparency” page on Overland Park’s website.

You can’t blame Sheila for employing all caps. This was huge. From the research we had done together, no city we found had employed such a robust police transparency page on its website.

Sheila’s son John was fatally shot by an Overland Park police officer in 2018, and the community has been justifiably critical about the lack of transparency during the follow-up on the case. Sheila vocally encouraged Overland Park to adopt an online policy similar to that of Larimer County, Colorado, but that is a sheriff’s department — a county, not a city. There was no known municipal precedent before Overland Park had made the move.

There was further cause for excitement: The Overland Park police transparency page is in some ways more comprehensive than the Larimer County model. As an example, it included full disclosure on the police department’s officer involved shooting investigation team. Additionally, the stats for invaluable crisis intervention training were part and parcel. It showed that 60% of Overland Park’s law enforcement officers had completed their crisis intervention training. That is nearly double the rate of some adjacent forces.

I had the chance to catch up with Mayor Skoog and I asked him what made him decide to implement such a comprehensive online police transparency page. “The Overland Park Police Department is at the forefront of best policies and practices in law enforcement.” he told me. “Those who are closely involved with our officers are familiar with this, but it was time for the community to see this documented through an easily accessible webpage.”

Campaign pledge, kept. Now is a good time to point out that Skoog did not act alone in this endeavor though. Lori Curtis Luther, Overland Park’s new city manager, played a big role in the implementation. Of her, the mayor said, “Lori has a track record of ensuring police departments operate equitably, lawfully and professionally.”

Most recently, she was city manager for Beloit, Wisconsin. Rolling out such an innovative transparency page seems a harbinger of great things to come from Curtis Luther, who only started on June 6 of last year. She is a graduate of Olathe North High School and served in the capacity of assistant city manager of Overland Park from 2001 to 2005. So, the area is certainly home.

“I’m proud” Sheila said in a TV interview. “I’m just so proud that our city took this step”.

Overland Park already had a lot of sources of pride. The city is a perennial top-ranked community. In 2022, it garnered these coveted awards, among many more:

▪ No. 5 of the Best Cities to Live in America from ranking website Niche.

▪ No. 1 of the Best Cities to Buy a House from Niche.

▪ No. 8 of the Cities with the Best Public Schools from Niche.

▪ No. 6 of the Top 100 Best Places to Live from community research site Livability.

With the city’s national plaudits and influence, I couldn’t help but ask Mayor Skoog if any other municipalities had reached out to him to ask about the online police transparency page. “Yes, other cities and police departments have reached out to learn about why we created the page and the process for developing the information,” he replied. “We’ve had many opportunities to share that the Overland Park Police Department led the metropolitan area by providing this information.”

Among the cities already interested in expanding the policy is Roeland Park. I reached out to its mayor, Michael Poppa, who said: “I appreciate Mayor Skoog and the City of Overland Park for their leadership on this important transparency effort. In turn, I’ve been in conversations with staff and our racial equity committee on how to best launch a similar page on the Roeland Park website that could potentially serve as a ‘transparency hub’ for multiple city departments.”

As this Sunshine Week begins, Overland Park may have established a far-reaching trend. Online police transparency affords the departments that adopt it increased goodwill and trust among the people, police and city officials. Additionally, a full disclosure policy helps to decrease the potential for lawsuits and the bad press that come when people feel things are being hidden from them. If there is a downside for the cities or their residents, it is not apparent.