TKC BLOG COMMUNITY PUSHED BACK KATY SHIELDS DEFUND POLICE POWER PLAY!!!

Or . . .

I think KCPD might owe TKC readers about 33 MILLION BUCKS. 

The TKC invoice will be in the mail and I'll divvy up the proceeds by way of caption contests and fart joke competitions. 

More importantly . . . 

TKC TOLD YOU!!! LAST MINUTE DEFUND THE POLICE EFFORTS PROVES THAT CITY HALL REMAINS HOSTILE TOWARD KCPD!!!

Moreover . . . 

At first we weren't really fan of Mayor Q's ordinance . . . It's was a step closer toward council control of police that will turn this town into a cheaper and equally violent version of STL.

Also . . . 

As we noted in our KICK-ASS 1st NEWS IN KANSAS CITY LEAD POST . . . We think all of this was a bit of a decoy to distract from Mayor Q's sketchy legislative gambit that has since been watered down.

 A bit more on that topic . . .

The Community Policing and Prevention Fund, introduced by Mayor Quinton Lucas on March 3, was initially pitched as a way to give the city control over a portion of the state-controlled police department’s spending.

That fund, which sets aside $33 million from the department’s $269 million budget, will not be controlled by the city manager and its use negotiated with the Board of Police Commissioners as Lucas initially proposed.

Disagreement arose at the council’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday when Lucas backed away from his original proposal, instead introducing a new plan which left control over spending to the Board of Police Commissioners.

Meanwhile, Missouri GOP efforts to address the issue of police funding are slow but steady and too late for this year's budget process. 

Now that the dust has settled on midweek slap fighting . . . Here's the best round-up of the sitch so far:

Fourth District-at-Large Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, who chairs the committee, introduced an amendment during Wednesday's committee meeting that aimed to take $33 million of Community Policing and Prevention Fund money away from Board of Police Commissioners control and place that money in the hands of the city council.

Shields summarized the amendment as placing the money in a "Police and Anti-Violence Grant Fund" where KCPD would have to present grant requests to the city to access the money, and, should the department not actively pursue the money, outside organizations could access the money with grant applications. The amendment came on the heels of Mayor Quinton Lucas announcing his proposal of ordinance 220.216, which would leave that $33 million in the hands of the police department but would require them to layout ahead of time how the money would be used. Taking control of money allocated for policing from the Board of Police Commissioners, a board appointed by the state and not locally has been a topic of contention over the past year within Kansas City.

The committee did advance Lucas' ordinance 220.216 and it will be heard in front of the full council Thursday when they meet to finalize the budget for the upcoming year.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

KCMO finance committee debates police funding, accountability ahead of budget talks

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City, Missouri, Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee once again took up police funding in their meeting Wednesday ahead of the full council voting on the proposed budget for the new year.

Kansas City Council divided again over creating separate community policing fund

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City Council's finance committee continues to debate pulling millions out of the police department's budget for a special fund. With budget talks ramping up, council members have choices to make to ensure taxpayer money is actually spent on putting more cops on the streets.

Developing . . .