The KC CALL

Kcpd Officer Sues The Department Stating He Was Instructed To Target Minority Communities To Give Traffic Vio

By Eric L. Wesson Sr. Managing Editor THE CALL

A Kansas City, Mo., Police officer has filed a lawsuit alleging Kansas City Mo., Police leaders allegedly ordered officers to target minority neighborhoods to meet ticket quotas — telling them to be “ready to kill everybody in the car” — and to only respond to calls for help in “white neighborhoods,” according to the lawsuit..

Officer Edward Williams, a 44-year-old white KCPD officer who has been with the Department for 21-years and who officers told THE CALL, was extremely credible, filed a discrimination lawsuit in Jackson County Court this week. He also says that he is being retaliated against for being a whistleblower.

Williams’s alleges in his suit that contrary to Missouri law, KCPD “continuously and repeatedly” told officers that if they didn’t meet their ticket quotas they would be kicked out of the traffic unit and sent to “dogwatch,” an unpopular overnight shift typically worked by those with low seniority.

“This directive came straight from the then-Chief of Police Richard Smith,” he alleged in the suit.

Smith served as Chief of Police from 2017 through 2022, when he was forced into retirement.

During Smith’s tenure the City posted record numbers of homicides and the relationship between Police and the Black community was its lowest in decades. During his tenure an officer was found guilty in the murder of Cameron Lamb and moral in the Department was at its lowest as countless numbers of officers retired or resigned. Many blamed the departure on the Black Lives Matter movement and even “defund the police”, but many tell THE CALL it was because of the lack of leadership.

Williams also said in his lawsuit that in 2018, Smith held a mandatory meeting in the traffic unit because the command staff noticed a drop in tickets. Although leaders acknowledged that ticket quotas were illegal, they set a requirement of 1,820 tickets annually for each officer, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit says that officers were told to go to minority neighborhoods to write tickets because it would be “easier to write multiple citations on every stop.” At the same time, command staff advised officers that they should “approach every car with the mindset to be ready to kill everybody in the car,” the suit says.

Command staff also allegedly told officers to only respond to calls in white neighborhoods in north and south Kansas City, “because those are the folks who are actually paying for the police,” the suit says. Officers were allegedly told to not respond to minority areas north of Bannister Road, west of Interstate 435 and south of the Missouri River, “because those people do not vote the same way as the people out south, east, and north,” the suit says.

Chief Stacey Graves, who was just appointed Chief of Police issued a statement Wednesday reacting to Williams’ claims and said, “Our department is dedicated to policing that is both equitable and fair in all aspects of our duties. We do not direct enforcement activities based on demographics.”

“We do direct traffic enforcement in high crash locations as well as citizen traffic complaint locations. I find these allegations very concerning and will immediately ensure the Traffic Division is reminded to operate and enforce laws appropriately,” she said.

Williams is seeking monetary damages because he said he was discriminated against for his disability, age and race. Williams, who is white, said “command staff” felt free to say racist statements to him because of his race — statements he said they would never make to minority officers.

Williams alleges that all KCPD officials cared about was the money generated by the tickets issued and he claims the practice continues

today.

Kansas City remains high among other cities in the state when it comes to “Driving While Black Stops” take place.

In the past THE CALL has had a number of conversations with citizens who have said that they received several tickets from Police after being stopped for speeding on 71 Hwy. One call reader stated that they received five different tickets as the result of one stop on Bruce Watkins Drive.

Williams said he is frequently stressed out, loses sleep, cannot focus, and is constantly fearful of what else might happen to him,” the suit says, “and is struggling to recover from the damage caused by the discriminatory and retaliatory treatment he received while employed at KCPD.”

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2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

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