KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After a religious group came out last week calling for the resignation of Kansas City, Missouri, Police Chief Rick Smith, another group came to the chief’s defense on Tuesday.
Last week on March 18, Heartland Presbytery released a statement calling for Chief Smith to resign.
A day later on March 19, according to a letter obtained by 41 Action News, the group offered a clarification to their original call.
“On behalf of Heartland Presbytery, we want to reaffirm that the intention and spirit of our letter was to ensure that a transparent process of reform occurs. We support the different avenues through which these much-needed reforms are being accomplished, we affirm the different groups working hard on them and we know much more work needs to happen.”
That clarification letter was part of a presentation Tuesday by Pastor Darron Lamonte Edwards of the United Believers Community Church.
Edwards said Tuesday that Heartland’s call for Smith to resign was misinformed and not a part of the process Edwards says is needed for change.
Edwards says his group, Getting to the Heart of the Matter, has already been working with police leaders in making change.
“This will take some hard conversations and hard discussions to get to the heart of the matter,” Edwards said. “It is all about inviting everybody to the table so that Kansas City can truly become a safe city in every zip code. That’s the goal.”
