Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor David Alvey today announced the members of a Task Force on Community and Police Relations.
The task force, according to the mayor, would help guide discussion and advance the dialogue between the community, particularly African-American and Hispanic residents) and law enforcement.
The co-chairs of the task force will be Unified Government Commissioner Harold Johnson and Mayor Alvey.
Last week, Mayor Alvey said a task force would be formed. The task force will expedite ways for receive community input, according to officials. The group is expected to hold public forums, listening sessions, conduct online surveys and encourage the community to participate and share their thoughts. The task force will share their findings publicly with law enforcement, local officials and the UG, according to the UG officials.
On Monday morning, members of the task force were announced. They include:
• Mayor-CEO David Alvey, Unified Government of Wyandotte County, KCK (co-chair)
• Commissioner Harold Johnson, Unified Government of Wyandotte County, KCK (co-chair)
• The Rev. Tony Carter Jr., Salem Missionary Baptist Church
• Yareli Castor, student, Donnelly College, KCK resident
• Randy Lopez, Wyandotte Health Foundation, USD 500 Board of Education
• Monsignor Stuart Swetland, President, Donnelly College
• Michael York, interim chief of police, Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department
• Don Ash, Sheriff, Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office
There will be another member of the task force announced later, according to the mayor.
“The death of George Floyd evokes a visceral response because it highlights all the pain and tragedy racism causes and has caused for centuries,” Mayor Alvey said. “It challenges each of us to stop and say ‘Enough. We know what we want: a community where every citizen can exercise their right to peaceable assembly, a community where every resident feels valued, and a community where every person sees an officer as a public servant and is not afraid.”
“To create a community and culture that values the life and dignity of every person, it requires people of good will to come together in open and respectful dialogue. We must be willing to talk about hard issues: questions of excessive force, explicit and implicit bias, disparate treatment by law enforcement. We must be willing to listen, and we must be willing to make changes,” Mayor Alvey said. “To that end, I am standing here today with members of the new Task Force on Community and Police Relations to build on all the good things we have and recognize all the areas where we need to do better,” Mayor Alvey said.
The objective of this Task Force is to build and strengthen trust between the community and law enforcement by identifying issues, perceptions, and challenges to that trust that exist today, creating awareness and providing a vehicle and forum in which these issues can be addressed by law enforcement, local officials, and the community as a whole, according to the mayor.
“My intent is for law enforcement and local leaders to utilize this to expand education and awareness, review and improve policing policies and procedures, and build trust, interaction, and inclusiveness with all groups and populations in historically diverse Wyandotte County,” Mayor Alvey stated.
UG Commissioner Harold Johnson said once again, they have seen another black man crying out, “I can’t breathe.”
“I am more than angry,” Commissioner Johnson said. “I am more than heartbroken. I am more than frustrated, because as far as I’m concerned, I could have been George Floyd. Just because George Floyd is not a resident of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County does not give us a pass of examining the practices and cultures of our law enforcement agencies.”
Interim Police Chief Michael York said the police department here has a good record of working with the community, including 20 community police officers. He said he was ready to have an open dialogue with the community, he wants to hear what the community has to say and how the department can do better.
The Rev. Tony Carter, pastor of Salem Missionary Baptist Church, member of the KCK Baptist Ministers Union and chair of the mayor’s law enforcement advisory board, said he wants to be part of the task force because he thinks the country and local community is ready for change, and he thinks it will take a collaborative effort for substantive change.
Sheriff Don Ash said the community has been working on issues for some time. He said he is proud of how the residents and constituents have acted in a responsible manner during protests, while not hurting people and not damaging property.
He said they want to hear from residents, listen to them and work with them so they can be better.
Yareli Castor, a student at Donnelly College, and a KCK resident, said she wants to be part of this change, part of something bigger. Students have ideas, she said, and are tired of not being heard. She said she felt honored to be on the task force.
Mayor Alvey said the task force will have a series of meetings, where not just complaints, but also initiatives and ideas can be discussed.
Gov. Laura Kelly also announced on Friday that the state of Kansas is holding dialogues with leaders in the black community to discuss what actions need to be taken in the state. She said that she expected the effort to take time.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department recently received a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Justice Department, according to an announcement on June 2. The grant is through the community policing office and will make funds available to hire more officers, tools and support, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. The UG Commission voted in favor of applying for the grant. Bonner Springs also received a grant of $125,000 for its police department.
Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree was not at the news conference Monday morning, and a spokesman for his office stated that he was not invited to be part of the task force. That is a question for the mayor’s office, according to the DA’s spokesman.
The news conference is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1mPa8adSew
