Lee’s Summit will loan police to Kansas City during the weeks of the World Cup
The Lee’s Summit Police Department will send officers to Kansas City this summer as the city bulks up its police presence during the FIFA World Cup.
The Lee’s Summit City Council passed an ordinance this week authorizing LSPD to lend an unspecified number of officers to KCPD on a case-by-case basis through the end of July.
The program passed unanimously without discussion by the city council.
According to the ordinance, the Kansas City Police Department will be responsible for coordinating the overall police response for the World Cup, but other departments in the metro can pitch in with “limited law enforcement resources, including specialized personnel and equipment.”
Due to the increased “public safety need” in the city and metro during the World Cup, a memorandum of understanding approved by the council Wednesday reads, KCPD can request “mutual aid” from LSPD and other jurisdictions, including private security agencies in the area.
KCPD Major Leslie Foreman said last summer that the department planned to double its ranks during the World Cup by pulling officers from other police forces in and around the metro.
Foreman said at the time that other police agencies had already begun committing to sending officers to Kansas City.
While LSPD officers are working in Kansas City, one KCPD officer will be designated as their point of contact and will act as their commanding officer, the agreement reads.
Once the agreement is signed by representatives of both cities and departments, KCPD can request the use of LSPD officers or services in writing, between five and 15 days ahead of time — or fewer, in case of “emergency situations”, the agreement specifies.
The aid agreement between Lee’s Summit, Kansas City and both police departments does not specify how many officers will be on loan to KCPD. It also does not specify how many hours those officers will work, what kind of specialized training or equipment they will utilize or what their pay rate will be.
The LSPD will negotiate any payments directly with KC2026, the organization coordinating the World Cup matches and tourism presence in Kansas City.
Councilmember Hillary Shields, who was recently appointed Mayor Pro Tempore, said that the city’s public safety committee had an extensive discussion about how much police resources they were prepared to offer to Kansas City — and where they would want to draw the line.
“It is a fairly limited impact to our police force, a couple of specialty teams over a couple of days,” Shields said Wednesday. “It won’t impact our ability to continue providing public safety in our city.”
The Lee’s Summit Police Department currently consists of 173 officers, along with 81 employees in “civilian support staff” positions.
