Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas announced he will introduce an ordinance to make sharing personal information of law enforcement officers with malicious intent a criminal act at the council meeting Thursday afternoon.
The ordinance would amend Chapter 50 of the Code of Ordinances, entitled “Offenses and Miscellaneous Provisions,” to prohibit the malicious publication of personally identifying information of public servants with the intent to intimidate, harass, threaten or frighten a public servant, their family or domestic partner.
The proposed ordinance comes after Lucas sat down with families of police officers over the weekend, who noted among their concerns “doxing” of law enforcement officers’ addresses and contact information.
“Our officers and other public employees have a right to get home safely and their families should be safe from harm,” Lucas said in his announcement on Twitter. “We welcome free expression in Kansas City. We do not welcome intimidation of people doing the jobs we hire them to do or intimidation of their spouses and children.”
This ordinance will mirror Revised Statutes of Missouri § 565.090 (2013), which makes harassment in the first degree a class E felony.
Some Kansas City residents have recently called for more accountability from their police department, which is not controlled by the city council and mayor, but rather the Board of Police Commissioners.
The City Council Business Session will begin at 2 p.m., with the Council Meeting to follow at 3 p.m. They are live-streamed on Channel 2 and the city’s Youtube.