Kansas City Top Cop Offers Final Warning About Police Staffing As He Departs

In what was essentially his last day on the job, the Chief shares a dire warning for our cowtown as he concludes his 34 years of service.

Real talk . . .

KANSAS CITY SUFFERS WORSENING POLICE STAFFING SHORTAGES THREATENING PUBLIC SAFETY!!!

The situation is actually much worse than most residents understand. Some of our smarter readers understand that so much negativity directed toward law enforcement, OBVIOUSLY, has a direct impact on rank & file officers that this town DESPERATELY needs. 

Here's a parting thought worthy of consideration . . .

Chief Smith announced March 25 that he would officially retire on April 22. In the interim, as a national search begins for Smith’s permanent successor, Deputy Chief Joseph Mabin (who has said he will not apply for the position) will step up to oversee the KCPD’s remaining 1,145 or so officers and 500 employees.

Since taking up the role of chief in August 2017, Smith’s KCPD had 1,387 officers on staff at its peak. Now, the atrophy within the ranks is evident. Twelve officers left the KCPD in March alone, adding to a shortage that continues to cause all sorts of logistical problems for the department’s collective 911 call response efforts.

“I don’t see any end in sight. We had two officers leave last week. Two of them just left, they just got out of policing altogether. We’re losing a lot of officers between the three and five year range in particular,” Smith said.

The shortage in officers forces the department’s six patrol divisions to sometimes share officers. At their busiest, the department faces citywide blackouts—when police officers are at full capacity working on existing 911 calls and therefore cannot answer another call until the current one is finished.

“What we have now is a very scattered approach. The first car available goes to the most important call that’s in the queue,” Smith explained. “And, as I have said, our 911 calls in the call center continue to rise. They don’t go down.”

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

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