Military & KCPD
KCPD is a proud home to many veterans. We employ the finest professionals in law enforcement, driven by the will to serve others.
Veterans join KCPD because it demands excellence and integrity. Our police department offers promotional opportunities and the most specialized units in Missouri and Kansas.
Veterans who are now officers find their purpose and belonging at KCPD. Join them, and join us.
Meet those who continue to serve
Officer Daniel Hernandez has long been resourceful. At 11, Hernandez relocated to Kansas City as a political refugee and learned a new language in a new country with a new culture. He made it through high school, though without direction and guidance. What was available to him? He didn’t know.
“That’s the reason I do what I do,” Hernandez explained. “I like to mentor kids that are going through the same feeling of leaving high school and not knowing what they’ll do. A lot of us didn’t know what to ask. My friends turned out ok, but they didn’t know either.”
After high school, Hernandez could not resist the need to give back. For giving him and his family a home, Hernandez decided to serve his country, joining the Marines. He would fight in Afghanistan in Operation Enduring Freedom. He would also form eternal bonds that he could see in policing.
“I miss being around my Marine brothers,” Hernandez said. “I knew KCPD would be kind of the same thing where I would be at home serving my country, my community, my city.”
Growing up in Meridian, Miss., a small town 20 miles west of the Alabama border, D’Entree Clark would watch TV, inspired to police.
“CSI,” “NCIS,” and “Walker Texas Ranger” were his favorites. Specifically, Clark wanted to be the next Jimmy Trivette, Walker’s partner.
Though at the heart of the matter, wanting to serve was easy for Clark. His father retired from the Navy, while many aunts, uncles, and grandparents also served in the military. Clark joined the Army to become a military officer before turning 21.
Clark followed his heart to Kansas City. While stationed at Fort Riley in Kansas, he met a Kansas City woman who is also an employee at KCPD. Her father (his future father-in-law) is a retired KCPD officer. Once again, service is a family affair for Clark.
Since arriving at KCPD, Clark says he’s received overwhelming support. It’s an encouragement he’s eager to pay back to anyone interested in joining KCPD.
Playing baseball and being a Boy Scout fits the ideal of a perfect childhood, but drugs and gang culture lurked nearby for Octavio “Chato” Villalobos.
Villalobos grew up in Kansas City’s Westside in the '80s, mainly near 21st and Summit Streets, when his best friend died in a drive-by shooting. At 15, Villalobos was on the edge of despair.
“We did all the right things,” Villalobos recalled. “I wanted to drop out of school, but there was an officer who watched us play baseball, and he took the time to talk us out of retaliating because that’s where our mindset was.”
That officer and others, along with veterans in the neighborhood, influenced Villalobos. He joined the Army and after eight years of service, intended to be a high school teacher because he wanted to make a difference. The high dropout rate for Latinos bothered him.
A friend convinced him to become a police officer, and Villalobos said it was the best thing he ever did.
A father to four girls and one boy, Albert Villafain knows how to lead.
That experience serves him well as a sergeant at Central Patrol Division. Between his experience as a dad, a Marine, and an officer, Villafain has developed a keen self-awareness. “You have to lead in different ways, and if you’re a good leader, they’ll listen to your advice.”
Joining the Marine Corps in 2000, Villafain deployed three times after 9/11, serving all around the world. But it was a trip on leave – visiting his sister in Kansas City – that changed his life. Villafain liked Kansas City and decided to move.
Wanting to continue to serve, in 2007, Villafain joined KCPD.
Some of Villafain’s most proud work has been when he’s been able to use his Spanish. Villafain is one of KCPD’s certified translators, and countless times, he’s been able to help people who had struggled to communicate.
“I’ll get called to scenes, or I’ll get called on the phone,” Villafain said. “I’m happy to serve however I can.”
HOW DOES MY GI BILL WORK FOR THE POLICE Academy?
Rather than redeeming your GI Bill benefits for college tuition, you can use these benefits to help cover your expenses while training to be a police officer. GI Bill coverage is not the same for all veterans . If you have a post-9/11 GI Bill, your on-the-job training coverage will be different from those with the Montgomery GI Bill.
POST-9/11 GI BILL
Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients will receive 100 percent of your applicable monthly housing allowance (MHA) for the first six months of training. After each six-month period of training, your MHA will decrease by 20 percent.
MONTGOMERY BILL (MGIB-AD AND MGIB-SR)
Active duty Montgomery Bill recipients (MGIB-AD) start on-the-job training and apprenticeship programs at 75 percent of the full-time GI Bill rate for the first six months of training. The stipend will decrease by 20 percent after each six-month training period.