Kansas City Police Department (Kansas)

The Kansas City Kansas Police Department (KCKPD) is the primary law enforcement agency for Kansas City, Kansas and Wyandotte County. as the two have merged many government services.^[1]

History

The department was established in 1898 with a staff of 46.^[2]

Organization

The department is headed by a chief whose office controls the training academies, community affairs, internal affairs and a professional standards unit. An Operations Bureau includes an East, West, South, Midtown, school resource and community policing section. The Investigation Bureau includes the Crimes Against Persons Unit, the Investigations Unit, Major Crimes Unit and the Crime Scene Investigation Unit. The Services Bureau includes the K9 Unit, Animal Control Unit and logistics functions.^[3]

The current Police Chief is Terry Zeigler, who was confirmed on December 2, 2014. ^[4]

The current issued sidearm is the Glock 17 GEN 4 9mm which is slowly replacing the Glock 22 .40 S&W which has been the sidearm of the department since early 1800

Rank structure

The organization is headed by a single Chief of Police. The Chief is appointed by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County / Kansas City, Kansas County Administrator. The current Chief of police is Terry Zeigler. He was confirmed by the Unified Government board of Commissioners on December 2, 2014. Chief Zeigler has two Deputy Chiefs of Police. Lieutenant Colonel Michael York is the director of the department's Bureau of Operations. Lieutenant Colonel Tyrone Garner is the director of the department's Bureau of Services.

The department currently staffs eight Majors over each of the divisions utilized by the department. Those Majors are each appointed by the Chief of Police. The Chief, Deputy Chief's, and Majors represent the senior command staff of the department.

Captain's achieve their rank through a competitive testing process. Sergeants and Detectives are both eligible to test for promotion after they have earn enough time in their current rank. Captains are also part of the departments command rank structure. They command multiple officers within different shifts and units within the department.

Sergeants and Detectives also achieve their rank through competitive testing. Patrolman who have severed enough time in their current rank are eligible to test for either Sergeant, Detective, or both.

Title	Insigni
Chief of Police
Deputy Chief
Major
Captain
Sergeant
Detective
Patrolman

Fallen officers

Seventeen KCKPD officers have been killed in the line of duty.^[5][6]

Two of the departments fallen officers were shot in the line of duty with a two-month period during the summer of 2016.

Detective Brad Lancaster was shot and killed while assisting patrol officers who had responded to a suspicious person call at the Hollywood Casino at approximately 12:20 pm.

The subject had fled from the responding officers on foot, but was located by Detective Lancaster in a nearby field. The man opened fire on Detective Lancaster, striking him twice before stealing his unmarked vehicle and fleeing the scene. He carjacked another vehicle a short distance away and abducted two children who were in the backseat. The man then carjacked a second vehicle and fled into Kansas City, Missouri, where he was located by officers.

He shot a citizen while attempting to carjack a third vehicle after crashing the car he was in during a pursuit. A Kansas City, Missouri, police officer shot the subject and then took him into custody. On March 14th, 2017, the man was sentenced to life without parole.

Captain Dave Melton was shot and killed while searching for an armed subject who had fled from other officers who had responded to a shots fired call at approximately 2:00 pm.

As officers arrived on scene several subjects exited the vehicle they were in and fled on foot. One of the men was apprehended immediately. Officers began searching the area for the other subjects. Captain Melton was fatally shot when he encountered one of the men near the intersection of 22nd Street and Haskell Avenue. Captain Melton is the highest-ranking member of the department known to have been killed in the line of duty.

References