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Leawood creates Police Department Community Advisory Board; council encourages youth participation
Summary
The governing body unanimously approved a resolution establishing a seven-member Police Department Community Advisory Board to provide citizen input on crime trends and police-community topics; the resolution allows inclusion of youth members.
The Leawood governing body unanimously adopted a resolution to establish a Police Department Community Advisory Board, intended to give residents a standing venue to raise questions about crime trends and police priorities.
Brad Robbins, Leawood’s police chief, told the council the advisory board is modeled on successful programs in neighboring cities and would create a formal mechanism beyond the citizen academy to gather community feedback. Robbins said the board would meet periodically to “ask about crime trends that they’re seeing, or concerns that they’re seeing, that the police department is not” and to answer community questions.
Council members asked how members would be recruited and whether high school students could participate. Robbins said the city’s communications department would advertise for volunteers and the governing body would be asked to help ensure geographic representation across wards. The draft resolution specifies seven volunteer members and allows the governing body discretion to include “one or more youth members,” and several council members encouraged including students for shorter terms to foster community engagement.
The council approved the resolution by voice vote with no recorded opposition. The governing body directed staff to proceed with recruitment and to return any recommended appointments as required by the city’s advisory board procedures.
