Mayor renews effort to discuss replacing airport police with KCPD

Click here for updates on this story

    KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) — While people across the country are discussing what roles should be taken away from city police, Kansas City is considering giving them a new assignment: taking over policing at KCI.

At 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, the City Council’s Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure and Operations will vote on the following resolution: Directing the City Manager to develop a plan outlining the necessary steps the City would take to transfer policing operations at the Kansas City International Airport to the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department and to report back within seven days.

Proponents talk about streamlining and safety. Opponents point to cost and the tone of policing.

It’s something that’s been discussed through multiple police administrations for more than a decade.

Councilwoman Teresa Loar, the co-sponsor, says now is the time, before the new single-terminal airport opens.

“I think with a new airport coming on, congestion being there and the possibility of new routes and more airline traffic, I think we need to take a good hard look at our security,” said Loar.

Mayor Quinton Lucas is the other co-sponsor.

“Let’s say, God help us, there’s a mass shooter tomorrow at the airport. We have experience with that on the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department,” said Lucas.

Steve Newman takes issue with the suggestion that the KCI Police Department isn’t equally up to the task. Newman was the Chief of the KCIPD for five years before leaving for San Antonio in 2019 because of the ongoing discussions about shifting authority. He worked his way up through the ranks, serving for the KCIPD for more than 20 years.

Newman responded to the claim that KCPD would be better prepared to handle severe situations by listing what he said KCI already has in place under the current system.

“We already have bomb detection dogs and TSA bomb disposal agents stationed at the airport. We also have a DEA task force that operates at the airport. And we actually teach run-hide-fight training to all the airline tenants as well as train with KCPD and other outside agencies on active shooter situations,” Newman said.

In January of this year, Aviation Director Pat Klein sent a letter to the Interim City Manager opposing having KCPD take over operations.

He noted the KCIPD has provided, “the highest levels of service without incident.”

He added that KCI Police officers, “are paid between 8%-50% less than their comparable counterparts at the KCPD,” and he estimated switching to KCPD would increase costs between $3 million and $7 million.

Any additional cost would be paid not from city funds but by the airlines and what airport officials call “user fees,” things like the cost of parking and concessions, which may go up if costs do.

The mayor questioned the accuracy of Klein’s cost claims and said a change could just as easily save money by cutting out duplicate command and administrative positions.

“Let’s find consistency in what we’re doing rather than a ton of different bureaucracies,” he said.

Newman’s concern wasn’t with cost. He was frustrated by the pay differential. His concern was about what kind of service airline employees and passengers would get.

“Aviation airport police officers have that customer service piece that you need to be successful at an airport,” he said. “If something does go wrong, we give them an opportunity to work with us before we take any real severe action.”

He added that the Aviation Department and the airlines are the ones who would pay for policing no matter which agency does it, but the Aviation Director would have little say in the matter if KCPD has control. He questions whether KCPD would be as invested as Airport Police are.

Mayor Lucas and Loar said it would be wrong to suggest KCPD officers can’t be just as courteous.

“I am sure there are some outstanding folks on the Airport Police Department,” said Lucas. “I don’t think that means that every Kansas City Police officer is actually just going to be some particularly unfriendly force.”

“The police officers that we would put at the airport would certainly have the customer friendliness. We don’t have any problems in Kansas City with customer friendliness of our police department,” said Loar.

In recent weeks, racial justice groups have called for Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith to resign amidst claims of a heavy-handed response during the early days of last month’s racial justice rallies at JC Nichols Fountain. Both police and protestors reported being injured in the exchange. After a few days of using tear gas on large groups of protestors, some of whom threw rocks and bottles at police wearing protective shields, Chief Smith changed his approach to lessen the visible presence of officers in the protest area.

Any decision to transfer operations at the airport would need to come before the full council at a later date.

KCTV5 News asked to speak with Klein for this report and was told he was not available prior to Wednesday’s meeting. An email sent to media representatives Tuesday morning seeking comment or input was not answered as of 10 p.m. Tuesday night.

Loar stated this effort and previous efforts have been initiated by council members and not the police chief.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.