Kansas City Chief of Police

An expansive Kansas law limiting transgender rights takes effect this summer, and trans residents are bracing themselves. Plus: Despite the return of KCPD's Missing Person's Unit, community members are worried about how the department will handle the disappearance of Black women and girls.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker and Kansas City Chief Stacey Graves issued a “call to action,” asking the community to step up to stem a violent summer.

A Kansas City woman's escape from an Excelsior Springs home where she was being held captive in October sparked outrage, and confirmed fears within the Black community that police weren’t taking reports of missing Black women seriously. More than a month after Kansas City’s chief of police reinstated the department’s Missing Persons Section, community organizations are still wary.

Chief Stacey Graves, just five months into the job, promised more officers on the streets to help curb the high homicide and violence rates. Community members overwhelmingly called for local control of the department.

The lawsuit filed by a KCPD officer places blame for quotas and racist patrol tactics on former Chief Rick Smith. Current Chief Stacey Graves says she will remind traffic division to “operate and enforce laws appropriately.”

Court documents allege that Kansas City Police threw Mack Nelson facedown to the ground, held him against his will, and wrote false reports of the incident.

This year saw the arrest and indictment of retired Kansas City, Kansas, police detective Roger Golubski. Gun violence and homicides continued to plague Kansas City, something that the new KCPD chief is ready to tackle. A look at the biggest criminal justice stories of the year.

Callers complain that they are being placed on hold or get a busy signal, which Mayor Quinton Lucas says “gives our community grave concern.”

Stacey Graves is first woman in the nearly 150 year history of the KCPD to be named a permanent chief of the department. She says she plans to focus on creating new opportunities to improve community engagement and relationships with the department.

KCPD Captain Danny Graves wrote that the prosecution of Eric DeValkenaere was “politically motivated” by Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s office. Asked if that meant there was a lack of trust between her and Baker, Chief Stacey Graves said she knows the importance of that relationship.

The Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners named a longtime department veteran as the new KCPD chief of police: Major Stacey Graves. However, the selection process was criticized by many in the community, including Mayor Quinton Lucas and the Urban League.

The Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners oversees a $268 million budget and regularly discusses important matters in closed session.