Children and adults alike deserve to live in a place where they can feel safe. We can help to make our city a place known not by our murder rate or by the amount of officer-involved shootings, but one known for creating community, acceptance, and appreciation of the people living around us. It’s no secret that we have a lack of public trust in the police, but we must have a commitment from both the community and KCPD to work together to rebuild that trust.
That’s why we must take as long as is needed to ensure adequate community engagement to select a new police chief who has a diversity of thought and experience–and then hold them accountable. While we need a big shift in police leadership, there are also small changes that can make a big impact, like adequate and well-maintained lighting, good sidewalks and a Ring doorbell program to help people feel more secure and thwart crime.