Lawsuit: KCPD officer was told to target minority neighborhoods to meet ticket quota
By Jackson Kurtz
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KMBC) — A Kansas City police officer is suing the department claiming he was told to target minorities and target low-income areas when meeting quotas.
In the lawsuit, 21-year KCPD veteran Edward Williams alleges officers were told to go to minority neighborhoods to write tickets because it would be easier to write multiple citations at every stop.
He says a captain told him to “approach every car with the mindset to be ready to kill everybody in the car and only respond to calls in white neighborhoods.”
Williams’ attorney, Gerald Gray II, said, “I’ve come to hear these types of stories over and over again in regard to, you know, police misconduct and not just isolated to individual officers, but really kind of it being systematic.”
Williams claims in the lawsuit the department continuously and repeatedly advised fellow officers that if they didn’t fulfill a “ticket quota” then they would be kicked out of the unit and sent straight to an undesirable “dogwatch” unit, an order Williams says came straight from former KCPD police Chief Rick Smith.
“He’s doing this for the fact that, you know, he wants to police the right way, no other no other reason except for, you know, he’s hoping that this will bring about change,” said Gray.
KCPD police Chief Stacey Graves sent us a statement:
“Our department is dedicated to policing that is both equitable and fair in all aspects of our duties. We do not direct enforcement activities based on demographics. We do direct traffic enforcement in high crash locations as well as citizen traffic complaint locations. I find these allegations very concerning and will immediately ensure the Traffic Division is reminded to operate and enforce laws appropriately.”
“I mean, you know, even hiring a new chief, I think that their practices and principles have not changed in any way,” said Gray.
Williams is asking for a jury trial and is seeking actual damages, certain costs and fees.
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