What We Are FIGHTING For
Selecting a New Chief
Kansas City will soon be hiring a new police chief. Chief Rick Smith is leaving office in April. He was an excellent and selfless public servant, and he’ll leave big shoes to fill. As KC residents, we want our next police chief to be someone who has a heart for the city and who cares about making sure all citizens feel safe. Public safety focus and proven law enforcement leadership experience must be prioritized above any political factors. We will be vocal, and we want to assist in vetting the options presented by the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners.
Advocating for Funding for Our Police
Police funding is a national issue, as political activists agitate to defund police across the country. Here in Kansas City, we need to do more than simply oppose the defund or so-called ‘re-allocation” efforts. We need to find ways to expand funding for the manpower, training, and equipment needed to keep our communities safe and fulfill the diversity of demands on today’s officers. Just ask anyone who works in law enforcement—they’ll tell you there aren’t enough police on our streets. Response times are the best they can be under the circumstances, but not what they should be when your family’s safety is at risk. Recruitment is down, even as we lose officers at an alarming rate. We will advocate for increases in funding through a higher base percentage of the general revenue fund. And we’ll fight against the underhanded games of City Hall, such as those in 2021 that led to a successful lawsuit against the mayor and certain council members as they sought to deceptively remove over $40 million from the already allocated and adopted police budget.
Turning the Tide on Anti-Police Sentiments in Kansas City
Cities across America are experiencing huge crime waves. Self-labeled progressive and politically minded prosecutors are turning violent criminals back onto the streets, unilaterally decriminalizing drugs, and other crimes, and leaving their communities to absorb the harm. Unfortunately, left unchecked, Kansas City is headed down a similar path that puts the interests of criminals ahead of law-abiding citizens.
Under this wrong-headed approach, homicides in Kansas City have increased monumentally. Unprecedented levels of unrest, violence, and looting—as well as intense anti-police radicalism—in cities like Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis, have forged their way into our city.
In June 2021, protestors left a coffin with a pig’s head dressed as a police officer outside KCPD headquarters. Vandals defaced our memorial to Kansas City police officers killed in service to our community and faced little to no consequences. Kansas City police officers must know that they have the support of the community behind them as they do their best to protect us during unprecedented times.
C.S. Lewis once said, “If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.” If we want to see progress in keeping Kansas City safe, we’ll take the path back toward common sense and common good.