KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department has struggled with where to put people it has placed under arrest for more than four years since Jackson County terminated a contract with the city to house inmates.
Now, KCPD’s ability to arrest and detain individuals for processing through the legal system has been severely curtailed even more — resulting in more people being released on their own recognizance, also known as a signature bond.
KCPD confirmed to KSHB 41 News that it currently only has one patrol division station — the Metro Patrol Division — operating a detention facility for people placed under arrest.
“This does create many safety concerns for the public, officers and detention staff, when options are limited due to KCPD not having a jail,” KCPD Capt. Corey Carlisle said in an email to KSHB 41.
After a person is arrested, police take the individual to a patrol station for processing — which includes mugshots, fingerprints and other paperwork.
At that point, police may release the person with a promise to show up for court or bail may be set, which requires detainees to pay money or obtain a bond prior to being released.
Other times, police may prefer to hold an individual suspected of a more severe crime until they are arraigned in court, allowing a judge to set bail and determine any bond conditions.
But with limited space, KCPD currently has limited options, giving the department the ability to hold fewer than two dozen arrestees in the city, though there is no hard cap.
“Procedurally division stations will start limiting arrest intake when population reaches an overwhelming threshold,” Carlisle said. He added that “it’s a fluid process based on multiple factors.”
Sometimes, KCPD only has the ability to hold a dozen people if there are staff absences or an unusually high number of “combative and belligerent” detainees.
The in-station detention centers are meant for processing and not for long-term housing of inmates.
Currently, KCPD’s only other detention option is to transfer detainees to county jails in Vernon or Johnson counties in Missouri. The department closed the municipal jail at its headquarters in May 2015 and began housing inmates at the Jackson County Detention Center before the contract ended.
KCPD tried to use the Heartland Center for Behavioral Change as a de facto municipal jail after being cut off by Jackson County, but the facility, which was never designed to be a jail, was plagued with issues.
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“Jackson County, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri, do not have a contract for jail space,” Carlisle said. “Once Metro detention is filled, (arrestees) are transported to Vernon and Johnson County.”
KSHB 41 reached out to the KCPD Board of Police Commissioners, Mayor Quinton Lucas’ office and the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for comment about the lack of detention space for the city’s police department, but we have yet to receive a statement from those three offices after more than 24 hours.
Until recently, KCPD also operated a processing detention center at the Central Patrol Division, but staffing issues forced the department to consolidate those detention operations at the Metro Patrol Division.
“The goal is to increase staffing and open other division stations detention areas,” Carlisle said.
KCPD is considering authorizing overtime among “several different solutions ... to open up other processing centers during peak times,” Carlisle said.
Jackson County is building a new jail along U.S. 40 just east of Interstate 70 near the East 31st Street exit after a report highlighted the deficiencies of the current jail. The facility broke ground in September 2022.
The county announced plans in October 2022 to “explore a partnership” with the city to consolidate a detention facility for use by KCPD and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
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