Civil rights group calls for firing of police chief

Members of a community group in Columbia have called for city officials to fire Police Chief Ken Burton

At Monday night’s city council meeting, during public comment, several people with the group “Race Matters, Friends” brought up the issue of race and policing. Topics ranged from grieving with police officers after high-profile shootings, funding for social services to overcome implicit racial bias and the Missouri Attorney General’s report on racial disparity in traffic stops.

While Race Matters, Friends member Traci Wilson-Kleekamp spoke about the first of those topics, she also brought up a new Columbia Police Officers survey of 85 officers, detailing low morale at the department.

“I see a lot of really unhappy guys,” she said. “And, quite frankly, I don’t think he should be the chief.”

Typically, city staff doesn’t respond following public comment at the beginning of the meeting, but City Manager Mike Matthes allowed Burton to respond, saying the issue is important.

Burton focused on the attorney general’s report, showing CPD was three times more likely to pull a Black driver over than a White driver. Burton has said in the past those are “just numbers,” and that his department doesn’t have a problem with racial profiling. He stuck to that message Monday night, saying the disparity index does not conclusively say whether a department has an issue.

“Do we have officers that hold some implicit biases? I’m sure we do, we’re human beings, ” Burton said. “But I can tell you that nothing I see in all of the records in the police department, and my years here, have I seen an example of racial profiling.”

Members of Race Matters, Friends began walking out of the meeting during Burton’s defense, some shaking their head while he spoke. Burton told one member of the audience when asked that he would be interested in meeting about his view on the issue. Wilson-Kleekamp shouted from the back of the room that Burton did not take it seriously.

“You’ve had plenty of opportunity to have public meetings to talk about racial profiling. That’s bull****, and you know it.”

Wilson-Kleekamp said afterwards Monday night that Burton is too defensive on this issue and needs to better explain himself.

“The chief has not provided any data, no document proof that the data is flawed or wrong,” she told ABC 17 News after the encounter. She said she thought Columbia needed a “21st century police chief,” likening that to Dallas Police Chief David Brown, and lauded him for his focus on clear definition for community policing there.

During the city council’s comment section at the end of the meeting, First Ward City Councilman Clyde Ruffin spoke about the respect he felt Burton earned during the 2013 protests of the killing of Brandon Coleman, a black man killed in a justifiable homicide by Dustin Deacon, a white man. Ruffin said Burton sat in on many of the community meetings, and defended his officers’ actions in response to the shooting. Ruffin said, though, the chief and city officials should not believe Columbia is devoid of racial profiling.

“All of us who are African American in this community have a story of bias and racial profiling that has impacted our lives and has impacted our ability to feel safe in the city that we live and work,” Ruffin said. “So I would encourage our police chief, as he goes forward…to listen to the stories, and know that there is value in what people have to say.”

Fifth Ward Councilwoman Laura Nauser said the council should make the CPOA survey its top priority in solving.

“When we have stressed officers who are going into stressful situations in parts of our community where they may feel unsafe…that’s a powder keg waiting to happen,” Nauser said.