KC's mayor has done lost his marbles.

[hermhater]

Mayor Suggests Lowering Standards for Police Officers

Should people with a felony be allowed to be cops? Last Edited: Friday, 18 Jan 2008, 5:40 PM CST Created: Friday, 18 Jan 2008, 5:40 PM CST Kansas City News


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KANSAS CITY, MO. -- The Kansas City Missouri mayor is looking for creative ideas on ways to recruit more minority cops. So, Mayor Mark Funkhouser said lowering the standards to be a cop may be the solution.

Mayor Funkhouser said why not let people with a criminal record be a police officer?

Barely 11 percent of Kansas City's police officers are African American. The police chief and the mayor say that's not enough. At a town hall meeting Wednesday, Mayor Funkhouser suggested lowering standards to recruit more minority police.

"At some point we've got to, I believe, allow people who have a felony on their record to go ahead and be a police officer when they pass various hurdles," said Funkhouser.

The Mayor said this is just an idea... a way to provoke debate to come up with creative ideas to hire more minority cops. But is it realistic?

Ken Christopher is a criminal justice professor with Park University. He said, "The more you can attract candidates you can reliably trust the better off you are."

Christopher said there are other ways to recruit minorities without compromising standards.

"To say you're willing to take on people who've committed felony violations is pretty much outside the mainstream about what police hiring practices are about," said Christopher.

Rich Lockhart with the KCMO Police Department said, "I think everybody shares the same concern we do and certainly we appreciate everyone helping us come up to solutions to the problem."

Right now, to be a police officer you have to meet state standards. A spokesperson with the Missouri Department of Public Safety said regardless of decisions made at the local level, you still have to be licensed by the state.

To change those requirements, means changing state law which now says you can't have a criminal history.

Another requirement is passing a written exam, something a number of candidates struggle with. That's why the police department holds tutoring sessions to help more candidates become police officers.

Heather Claybrook, FOX 4 News

http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/N...Y&pageId=3.2.1

[beefcake]

it is a bad time anyone in politics opens their mouth. That was one of the dumbest things i have ever heard suggested. I thought the law was suppose to be blind to race sex and all that...therefore making an effort to focus on one group and change standards for that race is racist.

[AkChief49]

good grief!! allow people with criminal records to become policemen. Let the fox gaurd the chicken coop......

[hermhater]

Tell me about it...

This should end well if it actually happens...

[chief31]

I don't see what is so horrible about the idea. If someone has served their sentence, then they should be forgiven. Let them start over.

I mean, repeat offenders may be another story, but the fact that someone has been convicted of a crime, doesn't make them a bad person.

There are plenty of policemen who are worse people than your average criminal anyway. But since noone is really "policing" the police, those people rarely get caught.

[AkChief49]

I don't see what is so horrible about the idea. If someone has served their sentence, then they should be forgiven. Let them start over.

I mean, repeat offenders may be another story, but the fact that someone has been convicted of a crime, doesn't make them a bad person.

There are plenty of policemen who are worse people than your average criminal anyway. But since noone is really "policing" the police, those people rarely get caught.

true, true. I'm all for second chances too! But to lower standards because you cannot fill quota's? I know there are bad policemen-which in my opinion means the standard might need to be raised....just my opinion

[hermhater]

I don't see what is so horrible about the idea. If someone has served their sentence, then they should be forgiven. Let them start over.

I mean, repeat offenders may be another story, but the fact that someone has been convicted of a crime, doesn't make them a bad person.

There are plenty of policemen who are worse people than your average criminal anyway. But since noone is really "policing" the police, those people rarely get caught.

That's my whole point. Since the police get away with so much crap already, a felon would be 10 times as likely to take advantage of their position.

I have had my fair share of run ins with the law, and I can state emphatically they are much more likely to be corrupt than your average citizen, so giving felons the power to harass can only end poorly.

[chief31]

That's my whole point. Since the police get away with so much crap already, a felon would be 10 times as likely to take advantage of their position.

I have had my fair share of run ins with the law, and I can state emphatically they are much more likely to be corrupt than your average citizen, so giving felons the power to harass can only end poorly.

I don't think that someone with that kind of past is any more likely to abuse the power, as I feel that everyone who is given that power abuses it to some degree.

But, I think it is a very good point that the standards shouldn't be lowered for the purpose of meeting some racist quota.

[hermhater]

I don't think that someone with that kind of past is any more likely to abuse the power, as I feel that everyone who is given that power abuses it to some degree.

But, I think it is a very good point that the standards shouldn't be lowered for the purpose of meeting some racist quota.

Agreed with the second part!

[Canada]

bah....yer all criminals down there in KC anyways!!