Recently, the Kansas City Missouri Police Department’s interaction with immigrants has come into question. Below is a great example of how KCPD handles crime issues, including those involving immigrant victims. We want to reassure the public that immigrant victims get the same standard of service that anyone else in Kansas City would receive.
We are working to stop a pattern of armed robberies in which the suspects told the victims – mostly older Latino males – not to report the crimes to police because they said officers would call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to have them deported. Not only is that patently false, but the victims’ fear allowed the perpetrators to continue to victimize more and more people. This pattern of crimes started with four or five armed robberies in 2018 and resumed in May of this year, with another four to five cases linked so far.
Police arrested one of the three primary suspects Aug. 20, and he was charged with two counts of armed robbery and two counts of armed criminal action. We anticipate arrests and charges on the other two soon.
As I have said before, KCPD does not enforce immigration laws and never inquires about a victim’s or witness’s documentation. It’s irrelevant to our duty. We would not have known about these crimes were it not for the relationship one of our social service workers built with Hope City, a house of prayer and community center at 24th and Quincy. Crime had escalated around the center earlier this year, so the East Patrol social service worker and a captain began going to Hope City every morning to see what they could do and introduce themselves to staff and volunteers. The initially chilly reception from clients changed when they found out KCPD was there to help. The social service worker helped one woman get a prosthetic leg, giving her the ability to walk again. She got another woman with cancer into medical treatment. She worked with another man to get his identification documentation, and that allowed him to get a job. Crime issues surrounding the area have dropped significantly since KCPD intervention.
The clients talked among themselves, however, about how they had been robbed at gunpoint by three men while they waited in line at Hope City to receive a free meal. The suspects shot one of the victims in the leg last week. But the victims of the prior robberies did not go to police because the suspects had convinced them they would be deported if they did so. That is what made these crimes so heinous to me: not only did the suspects threaten the lives of people to take their meager possessions; they took away the victims’ chance for justice and protection. The suspects knew this would allow them to continue to prey on the immigrant community. The Kansas City Missouri Police Department will not tolerate those actions.
Fortunately, one of the staff members at Hope City told our social service worker what he’d heard about these crimes from clients. That gave police the chance to investigate these cases and stop the suspects who were hurting so many vulnerable individuals. We don’t care where you’re from or how you got here because it is our duty to protect and serve EVERYONE in Kansas City. The Spanish-speaking captain of the Robbery Unit has reached out to many victims to encourage them to participate in the investigation.
These crimes and the fear they incited of KCPD among immigrants started occurring long before the viral video of KCPD responding to ICE’s request for assistance during an arrest. Since that video, we have spent a great deal of time out in communities assuring residents that nothing has changed with KCPD’s approach to immigration. We do not ask about it and have no intention to start.
In addition to our many community meetings, some of our Spanish-speaking officers will soon be going onto local Spanish-language radio stations to explain KCPD’s policy and practice regarding immigration. A community that does not trust police is vulnerable to violent crime. What happened to the victims of the armed robbers at 24th and Quincy is the worst-case scenario of that. We don’t ever want that to happen again.
There has been much discussion and debate surrounding the July 22 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stop that was filmed and shared on Facebook Live. I think it’s important to say upfront that the Kansas City Missouri Police Department does not do proactive immigration enforcement. That’s not our role. We do, however, respond to calls of people who need us all day, every day.
The call that came in from ICE agents asking for help on July 22 was entered into our dispatch system just like any call from the public, and officers responded as they would to any other call. We regularly assist outside agencies working in our city who ask for back-up, from sheriff’s deputies to federal agents. We don’t get to decide what calls we respond to. We just go. That’s our duty.
It is not our duty or prerogative to enforce immigration laws. Our policy clearly states, “Only immigration officers have the authority to detain and arrest suspected undocumented/unauthorized foreign nationals for violations of the immigration laws.” We are compelled by Missouri Statute 67.307, however, to “cooperate with state and federal agencies and officials on matters pertaining to enforcement of state and federal laws governing immigration.”
In the July 22 incident, several KCPD officers responded to ICE’s request for assistance regarding a man they were attempting to arrest who would not exit his vehicle. We would assist any local, state, or federal law enforcement agency who faced the same situation and had jurisdiction in our city. Responding KCPD personnel made many attempts to de-escalate the situation. You can see in the video the very respectful way the primary sergeant at the scene spoke with the man in the car and with his family after the arrest. His calming presence is part of the reason that KCPD officers respond to assist outside agencies. Our officers know their communities. They know their problems and fears. We believe the presence of KCPD personnel was a stabilizing factor in this incident.
In any high-profile incident like this, it’s important that we reach out to the members of our community and engage in discussion. As we have done before, I directed all of our Community Interaction Officers and patrol commanders to reach out to the residents with whom they work, especially our close community partners that work with immigrant communities. We want to ensure they know that KCPD did not initiate the stop in question, did not physically remove the individual from the car, nor did we take the man into our custody. We also want to assure them nothing has changed: it is not our policy or practice to conduct proactive immigration enforcement. It is our job to protect the life and property of everyone in Kansas City. Our community is safer when everyone – no matter how they got here – trusts their local police department. It would be detrimental to all of us if this incident incites fear of KCPD. Our officers are working harder than ever now to build that trust. This will come through community meetings, difficult conversations, and professional service.
We know this incident puts us in the middle of a national debate, but our job is to focus on how KCPD personnel can best serve the people of Kansas City. We will continue to review this and similar situations to ensure the process of continuous improvement to the service we provide. Other commanders and I have examined the video, just as we do with all incidents that merit a review. We continue to take the lessons learned from incidents such as this to assess our practices and policies going forward.
Meanwhile, we will continue to do what we’ve always done: respond to the calls of those who need help, no matter who they are.
