KANSAS CITY, MO May 22 2021

The Kansas City Council has stripped the police of more than $44 million dollars in their upcoming budget.

Thursday evening, The City Council of Kansas City swiftly approved two ordinances that reallocate a portion of the police department’s budget to a new fund.
The council’s approval came just hours after Mayor Quinton Lucas announced ordinances that will reallocate about $44 million of the police department’s budget to focus on new strategies to address violent crime.

It sets up potential negotiations between the city council and the Board of Police Commissioners over how to use the new fund. Police Chief Rick Smith said he was disappointed that the mayor did not discuss the proposals with police officials before announcing them.

Mayor Quinton Lucas said that the remaining $44 million would be diverted to the city’s Community Services and Prevention Fund.

“The ordinances I am introducing today with the co-sponsorship of my colleagues reflect the mandate to Kansas City’s elected officials to decrease violent crime, to decrease negative police-community interactions, to decrease wasteful spending and instead to increase our neighborhoods’ safety and collaboration,” said Lucas in a release obtained by

The city manager would negotiate with police on spending that money, with an emphasis on prevention, mental health services, and other strategies to address the city’s violent crime.

Currently, Kansas City does not have local control of the department, which is overseen by a board that includes the mayor and members appointed by the Missouri governor. The council approves the budget but has little say in how the money is spent.

Lucas said he does not see the proposal as defunding the police but adding to the department’s accountability.

KWCH

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