Questions about KCPD's policies or training?
Publish Date 05/29/2020
The tragedy in Minneapolis has impacted all of us. We recognize our community has questions. KCPD is committed to training our officers to protect and preserve life. We are reiterating to our officers our commitment to reasonable use of force to further our mission to protect and serve with professionalism, honor and integrity.
Many people have asked some of the same questions, which we will address here:
De-escalation Training
KCPD has taught formal de-escalation courses since 2015, but many of its concepts were incorporated well before that. KCPD officers undergo more than seven months of training at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy, including much time on these topics: tactical communication; communication obstacles; cultural diversity; dealing with aggressive behavior; introduction to Crisis Intervention Team (responding to people in mental health or substance abuse crisis), responding to disturbances, tactical breathing and stress management. In several of those areas, we provide significantly more training hours than are required by the state.
Mental health awareness and de-escalation is a separate course required for all field officers and supervisors if they are not already CIT-certified.
Officers undergo three days of in-service training every year. Supervisors must attend additional days. In-service training includes topics on bias and racial profiling, de-escalation, stress management and tactical breathing. Officers also get refreshed on life-saving techniques like CPR and first aid.
Response to Resistance
You can review our response to resistance policy, along with our other policies, on this site.
Body Cameras
Over the last several years, we have requested funding for body cameras. This is a very expensive initiative due to equipment and storage. So far, we have been unable to secure a dedicated funding source. You can see our Fiscal Year 2020-21 budget, which went into effect May 1. KCPD patrol cars are equipped with dash-cams (audio and video recordings) and have been for decades.
Protests
We are committed to helping you exercise your First Amendment rights safely. We also have a duty to protect life and property. You can read our policy regarding protests and demonstrations in Annex D of our Response to Primarily Civil Incidents policy.
There are many resources on this web site about our policies, procedures and practices, if you would like to learn more. We also offer the Citizens Police Academy for an in-depth look at our operations.