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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — State Reps. Mark Sharp, D-Kansas City, and Chris Brown, R-Kansas City, presented legislation Tuesday to the Special Committee on Urban Issues designed to make it easier for the Kansas City Police Department to recruit officers and top-level staff.
Sharp says these pieces of legislation — which were developed in concert with one another — were inspired in part by the extended search for the department’s next chief of police. Sharp’s House Bill 640 removes the age requirement of being under 60 years old and the maximum salary cap of $189,726 for the Chief of Police for the Kansas City Police Department.
“The Board of Police Commissioners found it difficult to recruit a qualified candidate willing to take on such a difficult role on a salary that falls slightly below the national average in a major metropolitan area,” Sharp said. “Representative Brown also found that the KCPD could use more assistance to recruit more officers, so we wanted to ensure they had the statutory capability to do so.”
Brown’s House Bill 729 eliminates the current authorized salary range for the Kansas City police chief and allows the Board of Police Commissioners to establish a salary range of its own. HB 729 also eliminates the existing salary ceilings for police officers — which are determined by rank — and stipulates that the board use the salary minimums as a base in pay ranges for officers in crafting their comprehensive pay schedule program.
Both HB 640 and HB 729 have received the support of the Kansas City Police Department, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.
Sharp serves as chair of the Urban Issues Committee where the bills were heard, and he said the committee is expected to vote on both bills next week.
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