Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
Dec. 18, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — One Kansas City, Mo., police station will no longer just be known for its geographical location.

On Thursday, Dec. 18, at the city council meeting, Kansas City officials, minus an absent Michael Brooks, unanimously supported the naming of the East Patrol Division Station and Crime Lab Campus for the late civil rights leader Leon Jordan. The official campus name will now be the Leon Mercer Jordan East Patrol Campus. This is the first time the name of a police station in Kansas City would include something other than its geographic location. Third District Councilman Jermaine Reed and Third District at-large Councilwoman Melba Curls have lead the charge for the name change, with support from Kansas City’s African American residents, leaders, and political groups.

Construction has since began on the $74-million project, which is scheduled for completion by winter 2015-2016. The facilities are scheduled to open in early 2016.

Before the vote, Reed noted how Jordan served three terms in the Missouri House of Representatives, was one of the first African-American police officers in Kansas City and co-founded the African American political club Freedom Inc. in 1962 with Bruce R. Watkins. Jordan was running for a fourth term when he was killed in 1970. Bruce Watkins Jr. and Rosemary Lowe, who were in the audience for the council’s decision, applauded the council’s decision.