Kansas City’s police department is one of the deadliest in America. Researchers estimate KCPD kills people at a rate more than seven times higher than some departments, and a national Police Scorecard ranks it 495th out of 500 agencies—an almost failing grade in every category from accountability to use of force.
Yet on Jan. 31, 2026, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves sent a department-wide memo warning of a budget emergency. The Kansas City Police Department, she wrote, would need to implement “drastic cost-reduction measures” to ensure “basic services can continue to be supported.”
The memo ordered an immediate suspension of overtime, a freeze on professional staff hiring, and a halt to equipment purchases. City leaders, including Mayor Quinton Lucas, learned about the cuts from news reports. The Board of Police Commissioners had met just days earlier. The crisis was never mentioned…