Kansas City group considers citizen review board for police shootings

? A Kansas City social justice group is working to form an independent monitor to investigate fatal police shootings in the city.

The Kansas City Star reports that the group, More2 (More squared), discussed the possibility of a citizens review board Monday that would investigate fatal police-involved shootings, but it hasn’t decided how that board would be formed or how the board would be made up.

Kiku Brooks, co-chairwoman of the crime and justice task force for the group, says members want to make sure the citizens of Kansas City are treated fairly.

According to Brooks, having police be in charge of investigations of police-involved shootings is where the breakdown of trust begins.

“We don’t trust the people who our tax dollars are paying to protect us because there is no transparency,” Brooks said.

Brooks says recent fatal shootings of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota have renewed the urgency for forming an independent monitor.

“It means there’s a lot of work that needs to be done,” Brooks said. “We have to move.”

The group called on the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners in January to take actions after The Kansas City Star did a series that found Kansas City police had shot and killed 47 people from 2005 to 2015.