KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the recent dismissal of two federal investigations into Kansas City's fire and police departments, social justice group MORE2 says they're not at all surprised due to the current climate of our administration.
Doug Shafer is the criminal justice task force chair for MORE2.
“I would be shocked if it didn’t have everything to do with that,” said Shafer. “Basically, business as usual or business as it has been for too many hundreds of years is what’s wanted by the current administration.”
Shafer says the cases against Kansas City's fire and police agencies being closed is exactly what he expects, based on his own experience with the federal government.
"We've asked for two years for the previous administration DOJ to investigate a pattern in practice of behavior of the police department in both KCK and KCMO,” said Shafer. “We didn't get an answer."
And now with the Trump administration running things, Shafer has even more concerns.
Within a day of being in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Shafer says it's time for DEI supporters to take matters into their own hands.
"I think the key is that we're going to have to do the right thing in-house,” said Shafer. “We're more than ever dependent upon our heads of department here in the city for both police and fire to do the right thing. There's power in diversity."
Shafer also thinks KCPD being under state control does not help and wants local control for the police department.
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