Embattled Kansas City police chief says he'll retire in 2022
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The embattled Kansas City police chief announced Tuesday that he is retiring just four days after a white officer on the force was convicted of manslaughter in the shooting of a Black man.
Chief Rick Smith, who has faced repeated calls to resign, will retire in 2022, Capt. Leslie Foreman, a spokeswoman for the department said in a statement. She said Smith made a commitment to stay in the position no more than five years when he was hired in August 2017.
The Kansas City Star reports that the announcement followed a City Hall meeting earlier in the day with Smith, Mayor Quinton Lucas, and the Board of Police Commissioners’ president, Mark Tolbert. The mayor’s office provided no details about the meeting.
“Mayor Lucas will not discuss personnel matters in the press,” spokeswoman Morgan Said wrote in a text to The Associated Press. “He appreciates all the dedicated women and men of the Kansas City Police Department.”
https://krcgtv.com/news/local/embattled-kansas-city-police-chief-says-hell-retire-in-2022