The department was established in 1898 with a staff of 46.
Organization
The department is headed by a chief whose office controls the training academies, community affairs, internal affairs and a professional standards unit. An Operations Bureau includes an East, West, South, Midtown, school resource and community policing section. The Investigation Bureau includes the Crimes Against Persons Unit, the Investigations Unit, Major Crimes Unit and the Crime Scene Investigation Unit. The Services Bureau includes the K9 Unit, Animal Control Unit and logistics functions. The current Chief of Police is Michael York. He started as the Interim Chief of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department on September 12, 2019. Chief York has served with the KCK Police Department since 1992. He has been assigned in a large variety of roles including patrol, VICE, Detective Bureau, and Internal Affairs. Chief York had previously served as the Deputy Chief of Police in KCK since March of 2017 The former Police Chief is Terry Zeigler, who was confirmed on December 2, 2014. He retired on September 11, 2019. The current issued sidearm is the Glock 17 GEN 4 9mm which is slowly replacing the Glock 22.40 S&W which has been the sidearm of the department since 1993.
Rank structure
The organization is headed by a single Chief of Police. The Chief is appointed by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County / Kansas City, Kansas County Administrator. The current Chief of police is Terry Zeigler. He was confirmed by the Unified Government board of Commissioners on December 2, 2014. Chief Zeigler has two Deputy Chiefs of Police. Lieutenant Colonel Michael York is the director of the department's Bureau of Operations. Lieutenant Colonel Tyrone Garner is the director of the department's Bureau of Services. The department currently staffs eight Majors over each of the divisions utilized by the department. Those Majors are each appointed by the Chief of Police. The Chief, Deputy Chief's, and Majors represent the senior command staff of the department. Captain's achieve their rank through a competitive testing process. Sergeants and Detectives are both eligible to test for promotion after they have earn enough time in their current rank. Captains are also part of the departments command rank structure. They command multiple officers within different shifts and units within the department. Sergeants and Detectives also achieve their rank through competitive testing. Patrolman who have severed enough time in their current rank are eligible to test for either Sergeant, Detective, or both.
