Editor’s Note

Today’s question for Overland Park mayoral and city council candidates deals with the 2018 fatal police shooting of teenager John Albers. That incident remains an emotional topic for many of our readers, but we feel it’s important to hear directly from those who would hold power in Overland Park about how they feel such weighty circumstances should be handled. You can read the Post’s latest coverage on the investigation into Albers’ killing here and here.

 

— Kyle Palmer, Editor

In early June, we asked our readers about the issues you wanted to hear the candidates running for Overland Park mayor address in the lead up to the Aug. 3 primary.

Based on your feedback, we developed a five-item questionnaire touching on the most important issues to the citizens of Overland Park.

Each day this week, we will publish the candidates’ responses to one of these five questions. Below are the candidates’ responses to item one:

The Overland Park police department has faced ongoing criticism and scrutiny over how it handled Officer Clayton Jenison shooting and killing teenager John Albers in 2018. Last September, the FBI opened a civil rights investigation on the matter, which is still ongoing. The city recently released the Johnson County Officer Involved Shooting Team’s report on the incident after months of public outcry. Do you agree with how the police department and city have handled this issue to date? If not, what should have been done differently? How should the city handle the issue of police transparency and accountability going forward?

Below are the answers the Post received from the candidates on this issue:

Faris Farassati

The shooting death of John Albers was a tragedy for all of us and a clear example of lack of transparency and accountability of the status quo in the OP government. I met with Mrs. Albers in a one-to-one meeting and listened to her concerns and grievances in 2019. I was also fully supportive of the Albers family’s efforts during 2019 and 2020 as a member of the public safety committee when I was trying to establish a citizen advisory commission on public safety. The boiling point for these efforts were reached when I and another councilmember were the ONLY two councilors who demanded a fact-finding session about the administrative outcome of this tragedy in July 2020. Our efforts were covered in articles by the Shawnee Mission Post, Kansas City Star and Washington Post.

“Council member Scott Hamblin said Friday that he and member Faris Farassati asked for the session because “the public demands and deserves transparency, and as leaders we need to be ready and willing to provide it,” the Washington Post wrote.

“Councilmembers Scott Hamblin and Faris Farassati have asked for more details on the severance payment to be able to provide a better explanation to the public,” the Shawnee Mission Post reported.

No other current mayoral candidates supported our efforts or were even heard from at that time. As a consequence, over 500 pages of documents were released resulting in a cascade of events which led to lawsuits by the media and an [ongoing] FBI investigation.

I believe policymakers, including the status quo at OP government, are mainly responsible for this lack of transparency. In my plan, OP2025, (farisforop.com) I have proposed a Resident Advisory Commission on Public Safety which will bring the community, experts and police force together to resolve such issues without politicians’ involvement.

I also propose implementation of “evidence-based policing ” (or EBP). A wealth of knowledge exists in this regard from academic centers such as George Mason university. EBP focuses on what works to prevent crime and improve citizen trust and confidence in the police. It also studies how police can incorporate research into their daily practice to improve efficiency, accuracy, transparency and accountability. I have been in communications with this center and plan to hold a symposium in this regard. The leadership of our police force and the staff are very enthusiastic about the possibility of interaction with experts in this field.

Clay Norkey

The officer-involved shooting of John Albers was a heartbreaking tragedy for his family and a tragedy for our entire community. John was killed during a welfare check while backing the family minivan out of his garage by an officer who shot 13 times into the van’s side before even identifying the driver. I have followed this case closely because of my personal friendship with the Albers family, whose second son I coached in baseball.

I have been deeply troubled by the slow trickle of details and the city’s unwillingness to provide information up front over the last three and a half years. The fact that current city leadership feels it has been a transparent process should be concerning to all of us. The truth has not come out because of any demands by city officials — it has slowly been revealed because of a mother’s persistence and community outrage.

We must insist that our leaders take responsibility and face challenges head on.

It should not have taken three lawsuits, countless document requests, an ongoing FBI investigation, the empaneling of a federal grand jury and the tireless efforts of community advocates and the Albers family for leaders to be transparent about this case. The OISIT [Johnson County Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Team] report, the concealed severance agreement, the $70,000 payout to the officer and candid answers to questions should have been disclosed immediately. As mayor, I will cultivate a culture of prompt transparency and accountability, which is vital to maintaining public trust.

We must also overhaul OISIT investigations to remove bias, eliminate victim-shaming and take a fair and balanced approach. For example, the [OISIT] report consistently referred to John as “the suspect” and focused on his background, though the officer had no knowledge of that information at the time. Barely any mention was made, however, of the officer’s background. That’s not right. These reports must also be thorough and complete before deciding whether to clear an officer, which did not happen here. We must do better.

Finally, it’s time to rethink our response to welfare checks and mental-health crises. We ask much of our police officers and must support them. Successful models of modern policing are Denver’s STAR program and San Antonio’s mental-health unit. We should be exploring those programs collaboratively, because showing up in a bullet-proof vest with a taser and side arm for a teenager having a mental-health crisis is not what the future of policing should be.

Curt Skoog

January 20, 2018, was a tragic day for the Albers family and the entire City of Overland Park. John Albers, 17, was killed by an Overland Park Police Officer. Like many of you, I watched the publicly released videos of this terrible event and was shocked and heartbroken for the family.

Within hours the Johnson County Multi-Jurisdictional Officer Involved Shooting Investigative Team (OISIT) was activated by the District Attorney’s office to investigate. No Overland Park police officers participated in this investigation. The OISIT report was provided to the District Attorney for review. The District Attorney determined there would not be any criminal charges against the officer.

The Office of Professional Standards within the Overland Park Police Department reviewed the incident and reported to the Chief of Police that no violation of department policy had occurred.

The City Manager is responsible for hiring and firing city employees determined that he had no legal cause to fire the officer involved. Believing that the officer should not continue as an Overland Park Police Officer, a severance agreement was negotiated with his attorney for his departure.

A second independent investigation of the officer-involved shooting was completed by the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training (CPOST). CPOST presented its investigation to the Commission Investigative Committee, which closed the matter with no action or recommendation.

As the former Chair of the Overland Park Public Safety Committee of the City Council, I directed and supported many improvements to the Overland Park Police Department. These included:

• changing the police policy that increased restrictions on shooting at moving vehicles,
• providing body-worn cameras to all police officers in the field,
• expanding the Crisis Intervention Team training to all officers,
• expanding use of Mental Health Co-responders,
• creating an 11-member Behavioral Health Unit within the police department that will be focused on assisting residents with mental health challenges, which is pending final budget approval.

It is my hope that these actions will prevent a repeat of this tragic incident in the future.

Public confidence in our police department is vital to the community’s success. As Mayor, I will lead the council to create a citizen oversight process that will assure confidence in the people who protect and serve the residents of Overland Park.

For more information visit curtskoog.com.

Mike Czinege

I strongly support our law enforcement community. Police officers have a difficult and often dangerous job to perform in their mission to keep our city residents safe. That mission is made all the more difficult when the city needlessly obstructs transparency surrounding both this tragedy and the dismissal of the involved officer.  Such obstruction sows distrust in the community, and residents lose confidence in city government.

The circumstances of this tragedy are not simple by any means, but concern over nuances and public perception should not have prevented at least the Albers family from having had access to the information surrounding the death of their son. There may be reasonable need to keep some information confidential in these matters, but this limited need should not be a shield to shut down all inquiry. Most importantly, a more beneficial focus resulting from this incident should be to ensure that the police department has appropriate resources to recruit and retain the best officers, and to provide training that meets the highest standards of law enforcement. Such a strong focus prior to this incident may have provided Officer Jenison a stronger skill set to have avoided this tragedy.

It’s disappointing that the current city leadership would hold fast to conflicting logic that standards were adhered to and no wrongdoing occurred, yet at the same time deemed the officer’s performance unacceptable and required termination — a situation made even more contradictory by the city paying a substantial severance to incentivize the departure of the officer. These actions by city leaders have failed our residents, and failed our Overland Park law enforcement officers.

City leaders should have addressed this matter first with the upmost integrity and prudent transparency, rather than soft pedaling it the shadows.  The fear of public perception or the inconvenience to political ambition should never supplant honesty in the stewardship of the public trust.

On Wednesday, we will publish the candidates’ responses to question #3: 

Climate change continues to be top of mind for many of our readers. What steps can Overland Park take to prepare Overland Park neighborhoods for increased flooding, along with extreme heat and drought events? What steps would you like to see the city take to build climate resilience?

We’re coming to Blue Valley!

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