By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The Kansas City, Missouri Board of Police Commissioners announced on the morning of Monday, May 1 that they have tapped Ralph Andersen & Associates to conduct a nationwide search for the city’s next Chief of Police.

The Board of Police Commissioners will accept applications for the position, which will officially open once current Chief of Police Darryl Forte retires on May 20, until May 31, 2017. KCMO Mayor Sly James – one of the Police Board Commissioners – emphasized during the morning press conference that Ralph Andersen & Associates will be searching far and wide to find Forte’s replacement.

“We are not focused on any specific individual, we’re focused on finding the best possible Chief that we can, whether that’s locally or elsewhere,” said James.

The search firm won’t be without assistance in its efforts. Leland Shurin, President of the Board of Police Commissioners, announced at the beginning of the press conference that there will be three upcoming public input sessions, with the aim to find out what the public values most in its Chief of Police. The first session will be held on Monday, May 8 at Maple Woods Community College; the next will be on May 15 at Avila University; and the final session will be held at Mohart Community Center on May 16. Each input session will begin at 6:30 p.m.

“I want the entire Kansas City community to be involved in this process; to help us select this Chief,” said Shurin. “The decision is to be made by the Board of Police Commissioners, but I think that people who live in this community should give us their input on what they believe.”

An interim Chief of Police is expected to be named by May 20. Shurin and James both indicated that whoever fills the role will not be someone who is a candidate to take over the position full-time. While James noted that the Board expects to fill the vacancy as soon as possible, he cautioned against setting a hard-and-fast deadline to complete the search. The rough timeline calls for the search to conclude sometime before the fall of 2017.

“If you start putting artificial deadlines on a thing, then you start looking to meet the deadlines instead of doing the best job,” said James. “If it takes us a year to find the best person, it will take us a year. If we can find the best person in 30 days, we’ll do that.”

Though Kansas City, Missouri has the last police department in the country that operates under State control, James said that he doesn’t envision having much difficulty filling the position.

“I think that most people will find this position to be a very attractive one, and that we’ll have a good flow of applicants to choose from,” said James.

Before wrapping up the press conference, the Commissioners described some of the qualities that will make an ideal candidate for the next KCPD Chief of Police.

“We certainly want somebody with the leadership skills to lead the largest police force in the state,” said Shurin. “Someone who’s personal and understands the multiple cultural aspects of this city.”

“I think we’re also looking for somebody who has a plan; somebody who has worked in and implemented a plan of community policing,” added James. “We’ll want to have somebody who has administrative experience, and will be willing to work with the City in order to find financial efficiencies so there can be more money available for things that are directly related to policing. We’ll want to find somebody who has a personality that they can get along, and they can be out in the community, and be known in the community, and move that along and build trust in the community. We’ll want somebody who has dealt with multi-racial situations, and has good relationships with state agencies and federal agencies where they work. We want somebody who’s going to understand the idea of focused deterrence, and continue to work with NoVA. We’ll want all sorts of things; we’re going to be looking for a candidate who can express themselves logically, concisely, and in a positive way; and someone who wants to come to this city and take on the challenge that we have. I think that probably covers it.”