Critics take aim at secrecy on KCPD plan; Lucas says ‘I stand by every step we took’

As a Kansas City council member, Quinton Lucas was critical of then-Mayor Sly James’ backroom machinations to devise the 2018 plan to deliver a no-bid contract for a new $1 billion airport terminal.

As mayor, Lucas now faces his own criticism for secrecy. His two ordinances triggering a major policy shift — giving City Hall more influence over how the Kansas City Police Department spends taxpayer dollars —passed Thursday just hours after introduction without the public hearings required of most council matters.

“I thought the process was terrible,” said Leland Shurin, a lawyer and former member of the Board of Kansas City Police Commissioners, the body appointed by the Missouri governor to supervise the KCPD. “When a democratic government has to do something in secret, they’re doing something wrong.”

Shurin, who describes himself as the most politically-to-the-left member to sit on the board, predicted Friday that Lucas’ decision to speed the ordinances to passage will invite recriminations from a Republican-dominated Missouri General Assembly that’s made no secret of its protectiveness of law enforcement.

“I think they’re very foolish,” Shurin said Friday. “We live, to my chagrin, in a deep red state. They’re going to have to face a legislature that is very upset at this.”

Lucas responded on Friday that he does not regret the measures taken Thursday to pass ordinances that reduce the KCPD budget by $42.3 million and require police commissioners to negotiate a contract with City Manager Brian Platt outlining how the department will spend that money.

“I stand by every step we took yesterday,” Lucas said. “I think if I had introduced an ordinance that just said, out of the blue, that I want to increase the police budget by $3 million for the same day adoption, I think every one of those council members who has complained about process...would say, ‘Amen Lucas, we support you.’”

Lucas announced his plan, a dramatic move to give City Hall more say in how the state-controlled KCPD operates, during a mid-day press conference on Thursday. Before sunset, he had secured the nine-vote council supermajority required to pass ordinances the same day they’re introduced.

Those experienced in municipal politics say it’s a rare power move to adopt major changes in city policy by passing laws the same day they surface publicly.

“It’s almost unheard of,” said former Kansas City Council member Ed Ford, who served four terms. “And only done when the sponsor or sponsors are afraid if they hold a public hearing, they will lose some council support.”

The four council members representing districts in the Northland — Heather Hall, Kevin O’Neill, Teresa Loar and Dan Fowler — said they were in the dark about Lucas’ plans and do not support the measures.

Lucas responded that the Northland delegation was unlikely to be moved from their position, even with public hearings.

“I don’t know if there would have been much to gain in just having an opportunity to, I guess, further divide the discussion,” Lucas said. “I think even right now, they’re spending a lot of time saying things that are just wholly untrue. The aforementioned point that no one from the Northland was consulted is false. The point that this is defunding the police is false. As I’ve heard one of the council members this morning on radio, Ms. Councilman Loar mentioned that officers will start getting laid off in 10 days. Demonstrably false. And I don’t know why we would spend another week or so playing the game of falsehoods.”

Supporters of Lucas’ tactics say the supermajority that stood behind the mayor’s plan demonstrates broad consensus, and that the four holdouts were unlikely to be swayed by public hearings because they almost always support law enforcement.

“What I am saying here is they have a consistent pattern of being advocates for increasing the funding” for the police department, said Gwen Grant, president and chief executive of the Urban League of Kansas City. “Especially Heather Hall.”

Others split the difference, suggesting the debate over Lucas’ ordinances should be on the merits, not process.

“If this opens up a discussion that can be productive, it can be good,” said Karl Zobrist, a Kansas City attorney who served on the police board under four different Missouri governors. “I see people very disturbed about the procedure: Let’s get to the substance. I don’t view this as a defunding mechanism.”

Most seem to agree that Thursday’s passage marked an extraordinary step, one that could either lead to more transparency and accountability with the police department, or one that could push police further away from City Hall.

“The mayor’s and city council’s actions are definitely bold,” said Darryl Forte, Jackson County Sheriff and former KCPD chief. “And now there should not be any confusion about the desired change and accountability expected of KCPD by several of our elected officials.”

Do the new laws defund police?

As Lucas was moments away from an interview on Fox News with former WADF-TV anchor Harris Faulkner on Friday, footage of crime scenes was punctuated by a blaring on-screen caption: “KC CITY COUNCIL OK’S DEFUND AFTER RECORD MURDERS.”

The idea that Lucas’ plan defunds the police, a slogan used by both supporters and detractors of diverting police resources to other purposes, is trickling through the community.

“We’re hearing from neighborhood people who are terrified that the police have been defunded,” said Deb Hermann, a former Kansas City Council member who is now the chief executive of Northland Neighborhoods Inc., a nonprofit neighborhood support organization.

“Hogwash,” Grant says of defunding claims. “They (KCPD) just have to clearly outline how they’re going to use (the money) and document that publicly in a transparent process. They have to negotiate the terms of the money. If it was a defund move, it would have been a deeper cut and no opportunity to recoup those funds at all.”

Claims that KCPD has been defunded are misleading.

KCPD’s budget is $239 million in the current fiscal year, which started on May 1.

One of Lucas’ ordinances does reduce the police department’s current fiscal year budget by $42.3 million, an amount that leaves KCPD receiving 20% of the city’s general revenue — the minimum required by state law.

According to the ordinance, the $42.3 million doesn’t simply vanish or get spent elsewhere like parks or streets. Instead, it goes into a newly created Community Services and Prevention Fund within the department’s budget.

There, the money is held until Platt and the police can negotiate how to spend it.

The $42.3 million is a relatively small portion of the KCPD’s overall budget of $239 million, a figure that includes $40 million in pension costs. KCPD still largely controls how most of its money is spent.

Lucas’ plan includes an additional $3 million out of the city’s cash-strapped general fund, earmarked primarily for a new class of police academy recruits. KCPD Chief Rick Smith said in a blog post last week that he’s been unable to bring on new academy recruits since February 2020.

Ford, the former councilman, said he’s not sure exactly what Lucas has in mind for how KCPD should spend that negotiated $42.3 million.

“Where are they asking the police department to spend less?” Ford said. “And where do they want the police department to spend more money?”

Lucas said ideas include funding for the Police Athletic League, continuing the KCPD social worker program, increasing 911 dispatchers, hiring new officers and training for police in crisis and mental health situations.

“Those are exactly the things that the chief has mentioned in his blog,” Lucas said. “Those are exactly the things the police department mentions as possibles. So honestly I have no idea what people are scared of.”

Lucas acknowledged on Thursday that if negotiations on that $42.3 million fail, it could conceivably result in a budget cut. But, he said, it would be a budget cut of the police’s own making.