Inside a conference room at Northland Neighborhoods, Inc., a community center at 5340 NE Chouteau Trafficway, Kansas City, Missouri, about 25 community members gathered to add their voices to the conversation about what the city needs in a new police chief. Current chief Stacey Graves announced in July she would retire at the end of this year.
51-year-old Kelsie Toole, a Northland real estate agent, came to the meeting because she said she feels a responsibility to engage with her community and encourage others to do the same. She also has a professional interest in creating the safest community possible for prospective home buyers in the Northland, the fastest-growing part of the Kansas City metro. If Toole had her way, the next chief would be just like outgoing Chief Graves. Toole was particularly impressed with how Graves handled the 2024 Super Bowl Parade shooting.
“The amount of weight on those shoulders, I feel like she handled it very well," Toole said. “I think if you could duplicate her, that would be a good way to go.”
The Kansas City Public Safety Coalition, a group of civic, business, faith and community leaders who work alongside the Kansas City Police Department and Board of Police Commissioners, is sponsoring the series of public listening sessions to gather residents’ ideas. At each session, participants receive a series of questions including what preventive programs they would like to see and how their police department can make them feel safer. At the Thursday night meeting, one of the frequent comments from Northlanders was the need for more frequent patrols north of the river.
Toole was shocked to hear that Graves was retiring at the end of 2026. She believes Graves’ leadership has had a hand in the reduction of violent crime in recent years but is concerned about the stubbornly high number of homicides that still occur throughout the city. She said th next chief must have Graves' courage and openess.
“If we’re going to reduce the number of homicides in this city, there has to be some kind of cultural change," Toole said. “There has to be a real shift. Cause arresting people … I don’t think that's the solution. You have to have a strong leader who is open to those conversations and influences others.”
Pastor Darron Edwards, one of the founding members of the Public Safety Coalition, said these meetings are meant to define what safety means to each community and how it can be better enforced. He said that definition looks different in different parts of the city.
“If we are going to have a safer Kansas City, we got to define what safety looks like in the Northland, what it means in the south (of Kansas City), what it means in midtown and what it means in the east (side of the city),” said Edwards. “And put that compilation report together to give to the Board of Police Commissioners so they can pick the next police chief and understand how safety looks in Kansas City.”
Here is a list of the remaining listening sessions:
- Tuesday, October 20 | East | 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Friendship Baptist Church Gymnasium, 3530 Chelsea Drive, Kansas City, MO 64128
- Thursday, October 22 | Northeast | 5:30–7:30 p.m.
The Propeller Building of Samuel U. Rodgers - Jim Nunnelly Room, 2100 E. 9th Street, Kansas City, MO 64124
- Thursday, October 29 | West | Downtown, Midtown | 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Union Station, KC Chamber Board Room, 30 W. Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO 64108
- Thursday, November 5 | South | 5:30–7:30 p.m.
United Believers Community Church, 5600 E. 112th Terrace, Kansas City, MO 64134
