For three hours, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Tuesday was like every other: crime statistics from deputy chiefs, updates on staffing levels and transfers between financial accounts.
But the last few minutes were very different.
During the public comment period, people talked about being victims of young criminals. People remembered chef Shaun Brady, allegedly killed by two teenagers outside of his Brookside restaurant Brady and Fox. Others talked about the young homicide victims in Kansas City.
Of the city’s 110 homicides, 10% are victims 17 and under, according to KCPD data.
“I’ll make a final point, because these things do matter to me,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said near the end of the meeting. “Since I’ve been mayor, probably more than 600 people in this city have lost their lives to homicide.”
He said it pains him to see teenagers involved in crime.
“There is a bigger challenge in this community with what’s happening with our teenagers…” His voice trailed off as the audience watched Lucas tear up and leave the meeting before it adjourned.
It took Lucas 10 minutes to come out and join his scheduled news conference to talk about plans to bring back the jail on the 8th floor of KCPD headquarters.
His press secretary said she had never seen him so emotional, either publicly or privately.
“I'm not a guy who's ever broken down in a public meeting,” he told reporters when he emerged. “These homicides, if they're getting to me, they absolutely get to our officers. If having to arrest a 14-year-old or a 15-year-old gets to some of you who are out there watching, it gets to our officers in our community.”
Police Chief Stacy Graves said the mayor’s emotion just shows the passion he and officers have for the job.
“The mayor and I both grew up in Kansas City,” she said after the meeting. “This is something that, that runs a little bit deeper than just a job.”
Kansas City is the only major city in the U.S. that does not have local control of its police department. The KCPD answers to a state-controlled Board of Police Commissioners, rather than elected Kansas City officials. All but one member of the board — the mayor — is appointed by Missouri's governor.
Just last week on KCUR’s Up to Date, Graves said she's grown frustrated because the teens her officers arrest are often released from juvenile detention.
She reiterated that Tuesday and said she is working with the court administrator on solutions.
“We're going to do that,” she said. “We're going to make it happen to where we can make sure that Kansas City is safer.”
