© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNSKansas City, Mo., Police Chief Richard Smith, middle, attends an event with President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 22, 2020.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A coalition of four activist and civil rights organizations met Friday to renew their demands for the removal of Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith, an action many have been calling for since June.
In a 90-minute online presentation by members of the Urban Summit, leaders pointed to the historic rise in shootings in recent months, the number of unsolved homicides and Kansas City police officers who are facing criminal charges for excessive force.
They also pointed to the killings of several Black men by police.
"KCPD doesn't kill white folks like it kills Black folks," said the Rev. Vernon P. Howard, president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City and an event organizer. "There is a particular and specific calling and obligation that Black people have to address this issue."
A spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, Sgt. Jacob Becchina, said the chief has no plans to resign.
Police officials have said the department implemented a number of reforms and policy changes over the past year in response to public demand. Those included issuing body cameras for all uniformed officers, having outside law enforcement investigate police shootings, and a directive that requires an officer to intervene if they see another officer use excessive force.
In addition, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners has approved a policy that prohibits officers from using less-lethal weapons "to disperse crowds in the event of an unlawful assembly."
But Howard said those efforts were insufficient and the removal of Smith as police chief was the only viable option.
"We are continuing our demand that Chief Rick Smith be fired, dismissed because he enforces and reinforces the systemic and structural racism that exists within KCPD that manifests itself through the killing and excessive force of Black and brown people in this city," Howard said after the session.
"He also operates to resist accountability, he protects bad actors as opposed to holding them accountable. That's the problem. His performance over these couple of years has been horrendous," Howard said.
Mayor Quinton Lucas participated in the session Friday.
"There are a number of longer-term concerns and issues relating to, how do we make sure we police the city in a way that everyone feels as if they are respected, in a way that everyone feels and knows that they are important, and they and their family can be safe," Lucas said following the meeting.
At one point in session, Howard said, participants chanted at Lucas to "call for the vote, call for the vote" in an effort to have the police board decide whether to keep or terminate Smith.
"Whether it is successful or not, call for the vote. Because it is the right thing to do," Howard said.
Lucas, who is one of five commissioners on the police board, said he would not discuss personnel issues publicly but he acknowledged that more needs to be done to improve police and community relations.
"There's a board with a mayor with 20% control, he said. "I want to make sure that I've talked to other people, rather than just making a show."
Gwen Grant, president/CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, presented a slideshow that laid out several arguments for Smith to step down or be terminated.
Grant pointed out that Smith set three primary goals when he was appointed chief, including setting up officers for success, reducing crime and building community trust.
Grant said Smith has failed to fulfill each of those initiatives. She noted that five Kansas City police officers have been indicted in the past 10 months in four cases alleging violent crimes against Black people.
"He's put them back to work and put them on the street, and they are repeat offenders," Grant said after the session.
In particular, Grant mentioned Officer Blayne Newton who shot and killed a Kansas City man named Donnie Sanders following a traffic stop last March.
Sanders was unarmed, but prosecutors said there was not sufficient evidence to charge Newton.
Last summer, police deployed chemical weapons and projectiles against protesters during the demonstrations on the Country Club Plaza following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, Grant said.
In addition, the city's homicide rate has increased over the past two years. Smith has yet to develop an effective plan to reduce the violence, Grant said.
In 2020, Grant noted, the police department reported 612 nonfatal shootings. Only 18% of those shootings were cleared, she said.
The group accused Smith of withholding probable cause statements only in cases when officers are involved in deadly or excessive force incidents, including the alleged assault of Brianna Hill by officers that was captured on video.
"The rating on all three: fail, fail, fail," Grant said. "And obstruction of justice does not build effective community relationships. We are not backing out, we are not playing."