police

With lawmakers set to take next week off, they leave having already accomplished one major priority: placing the St. Louis Police Department under state control.

The bill now goes to Gov. Mike Kehoe, who made the state takeover of St. Louis Police one of his priorities. St. Louis' two police unions support the legislation, but the city mayor and police chief testified against it.

Placing the St. Louis Police Department under a state-appointed board has been a priority for Gov. Mike Kehoe. The Republican governor said that removing local control will improve safety, despite the evidence in Kansas City, whose police is already under a similar system.

President Trump’s pick for FBI Director, Kash Patel, has been confirmed — prompting fears of possible layoffs in the bureau. Some local officials worry that a diminished FBI presence in Kansas and Missouri could harm local law enforcement.

The Missouri House also passed legislation barring state funds from going to diversity, equity and inclusion programs and a bill shielding companies from having to place specific cancer warnings on pesticides.

The legislation would take away control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department from the mayor’s office to a board mainly appointed by the governor. It's a structure similar to the Civil War-era system that manages the Kansas City Police Department.

Kansas City officials unveiled a $2.5 billion budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year that reveals its spending priorities. Under the new system, the city will evaluate each program based on its importance to the community, not just carry it over from the previous budget.

The Midwest Newsroom and its partners asked police departments and sheriff offices in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska to tell us whether they will cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies as part of the Trump White House “mass deportation” plan.

Kansas City-area legislators will have some big leadership roles when Missouri General Assembly convenes this week. So does that mean city leaders will finally realize their hopes of reducing gun violence or regaining local control of the city’s police department? (Probably not.)

A report from the prosecutor examines officer-involved shootings by the Kansas City Police Department, focusing primarily on the killing of Donnie Sanders, an unarmed Black man, in March 2020.

In the span of three months in 2023, Kansas City, Kansas, police shot and killed two men – John Anderton and Amaree’ya Henderson. The Unified Government and KCK police sued to keep the investigations secret.

Drivers might unknowingly be exposing themselves to violations of their constitutional rights. Legal experts discuss privacy violations related to car insurance, the "Kansas two-step," and what to do if you're pulled over.