This election year, justice is on the ballot amid rising anxiety over crime.

We bring you back to back debates with the candidates who want to be your next Jackson County prosecutor and Johnson County district attorney.

Stay with us for this hour long debate edition of Week in Review.

We can review is made possible through the generous support of Dave and Jamie Cummings, Bob and Marlese Gourley.

The Courtney S Turner Charitable Trust, John H Mize and Bank of America, N.A.

Co Trustees, the Francis Family Foundation through the Discretionary Fund of David and Janice Francis.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Nick Haynes.

If you watched the big vice presidential debate this week, you should know that was just a warm up act for the show we have for you tonight.

I know everyone's fixated on the race for the White House, but if your vehicle has just been broken into, you've been awoken by the sound of gunfire in the middle of the night.

Your business has been burglarized or you've been terrorized by crime in your neighborhood, You should know Donald Trump or Kamala Harris aren't swooping in to resolve those issues for you.

This week, you're going to meet some of the most important and overlooked players in the criminal justice system that, unlike, say, the police chief, you actually get to vote on and hold accountable at the ballot box.

Later, we'll be heading to Overland Park for the Johnson County district attorney debate.

But first, the stakes are high in Jackson County this November, as longtime prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announces she's not running for reelection after 13 years in the job.

Today, I'm announcing that I will not seek another term as Jackson County prosecutor.

Now, sorry, that makes me a little emotional.

Tearful.

Well, picking a replacement for Jackson County prosecutor Miss Baker may not be the top item on your ballot this November, but it's one of the biggest decisions.

Kansas City area voters have to make.

Who should it be?

Well, it's definitely going to be one of those two people sitting around the table with me this week.

Republican candidate Tracy Chappell is the former prosecutor for the city of Blue Springs.

She is a defense attorney now representing clients in multiple county courts.

Democrat Melesa Johnson formerly served as an assistant Jackson County prosecutor.

She now serves in the mayor's office as the city's first director of public safety.

I have to say, there's a lot of headaches.

First of all, Tracy, for being in this job.

I know that Jean Peters Baker was getting death threats on a weekly basis.

Her public safety was was under threat of family.

Safety was under threat.

Why do you need the aggravation of being in this job?

Well, Nick, thank you so much for that question.

I actually saw the direction that the current administration was going when it comes to prosecution.

And it was not a direction that left us safe in our communities.

As a matter of fact, it left people downright fearful because of the level of property crime that we're experiencing and the level of violent crime that we're experiencing.

When I was a head prosecutor for the City of Blue Springs, I continuously saw felonies come across my desk and they were because they were not being prosecuted at the state level, and they absolutely should have been.

But they landed on my desk because the current administration yellow sheet at the end meeting, they failed and refused to prosecute those cases.

And so with my level of experience and my expertise, I said, why not let me be the person to make our communities safe again?

Like it or not, we've got to witness firsthand how Jean Peters Baker has run that office.

What is the biggest difference we would see if you're elected?

One of the biggest difference that you're going to see when I am in that office is actually prosecuting drug cases for since 2021, Jean Peters Baker has said, I am no longer going to prosecute drug cases unless there is a violent nexus with that.

That is unacceptable, Nick.

When I defend cases, mainly drug cases, it it's a Class D felony, the possession of a controlled substance.

I am finding that people who are on wet or PCP, meth and heroin and fitting all those are highly addictive drugs.

And so when these people are addicted to the drug and they can no longer supply supply that drug, they are now committing property crimes, violent crimes.

And we are seeing those things on the rise right now.

And so what I really want to do is get those people, help get them in a drug court.

But if they refuse that type of treatment, then they have to go sit down.

And that means incarceration.

But Lisa Johnson, what makes you better qualified for this job of prosecutor than your opponent?

It is no longer sufficient.

And this is according to the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys to simply be a figurehead in the courtroom.

ME You're going to get somebody who is going to intervene in ongoing crime with the full force of the law.

But I'm also going to work proactively to prevent crime before it happens.

I am the only candidate in this race with felony prosecutorial experience and public safety administrative leadership experience as well.

You know, you said about you can't be just a figurehead in the courtroom, but you would have to deal with some very big cases, whether it be things like mass murders, potentially serial killers, an officer who commits murder.

What is the biggest case you have taken to trial as a lead prosecutor?

Dwayne Toombs Well, I was not the lead prosecutor.

I was working with the lead prosecutor, but did work on the Duane Timbs first degree murder case where in the victim actually was killed in front of his four young sons.

And during that time, I was the prosecutor who my colleagues called on to get those young men, primarily young men of color, to cooperate and believe in the system.

We could have not prosecuted that case without my involvement.

We see the prosecutor as someone who stands behind a podium and we see on our local evening news pretty much almost every day of the week, it seems these days.

But yet some people have said this is an office and this is like running a 150 person law firm.

That's how big this office is.

You know, have you ever managed 150 people before?

Not 150 people.

But I have managed before in my current role as director of public safety, I lead a city task force that looks at commercial businesses that have had a plethora of public safety issues, representatives from every single city department.

And that is over 50 individuals.

And so I'm very confident in my leadership abilities as well.

How about for you, Miss Chappell?

Have you ever managed 150 people before?

I have never managed 150 people.

However, I will tell you when looking at it, my experience as a prosecutor for the City of Blue Springs that I had to train police officers.

I am the only one in this room who has actually trained police officers on Fourth Amendment issues.

Those are expressly big issues that we will be dealing with as the next Jackson County prosecutor.

I have training my prosecuting attorneys.

I have also trained staff on what to do in legal situations.

I have established policies and procedures on how to operate in my office.

So when I look at those things and I compare myself with the opponent, I understand that she's a director of public safety, but she is the only individual in her office.

So essentially, as the director of no one.

And so when I'm looking at that and I look at my experience that that I that I currently have, I have experience that makes me readily available to walk into that job on day one to respond to that.

I would, you know, Miss Tracy Chappell right now, as a fellow practitioner at the Blue Springs prosecutor's office, the staff was not matched.

If you have an administrative assistant and a small handful of attorneys and when you look at the coalitions that I have led, where you're talking about the CDC task force, whether you're talking about partners for Peace, which is a violence intervention program, the new focus, deterrence program, Save Casey.

I have leadership responsibilities and all of those positions.

And just because I don't have staff directly under me, I am leading.

And the people that I work with believe in my leadership capabilities.

What is the single biggest action or decision you would take as prosecutor to lower violent crime in Kansas City and Jackson County?

Studies show from the Department of Justice, the University of Dayton, Ohio Law Review, the Marshall Project, that lengthy prison sentence, two sentences do not actually deter crime.

Swift resolution does.

And so I'm going to make investments into cell phone forensic analysis to make sure that we are bringing these individuals to justice and delivering justice to families that are grieving much quicker in places like Las Vegas.

And I think we talked about these during the primary where they do the cell phone analytics within 48 hours, they have over 91% clearance rate and it happens quick.

It is certain.

And the more we can strengthen our cases, the more we can bring people to justice in an expedient way.

The single biggest thing decision you would make as prosecutor to reduce violent crime in Jackson County is what, Nick, we're going to have to get back.

Back to old school.

We're going to have to start community prosecution.

What that means is we're going to have satellite offices for our prosecutors and the police departments.

We're going to do that early and often to help them with their investigations, because when police officers have good investigations, when they're able to get questions, answers from the prosecutor swiftly and efficiently, when they can have good investigations, then we can, as prosecutors, do our job effectively and swiftly.

Now, I will tell you this.

When I hear about cell phone analytics, that is not a function of the Jackson County prosecutor's office.

That is a function of the police department.

And so my opponent at some of the forum have basically stated that she is going to defund the police and take combat funding, funding that is designated for police officers.

She would take $2.1 million of their funding and put it towards cell phone analytics.

That is very concerning to me because police officers need all of the funding that they can get.

For too long we have seen police officers or people talk about the long nine.

When one calls or the wait times.

We have talked about a shortage of officers.

We cannot and I repeat, Nick, we cannot afford to have someone take $2.1 million from the police budget through combat to fund a program that is not even the function of the Jackson County prosecutor.

That is what makes it so lonely.

So combat has a pie chart and 9.5% of combat dollars, which is $30 million annually, goes to the police department.

And so this technology would be purchased for the use of the police department.

Kansas City Police Department is better funded than 96% of police agencies in this country.

I am not trying to take anything away from them, but a prosecutor's job is to work collaboratively together with police so that we can see justice delivered in these cases quicker.

And cell phone analytics is a huge piece to that puzzle.

New FBI crime figures show a double digit rise in juveniles accused of violent crimes.

Last year there was a 30% jump in the number of teens accused of property crimes.

So what's the fix?

Should one of those responses be trying more juveniles in adult court where the penalties are greater, where appropriate?

Absolutely.

There is a code of conduct in Jackson County, and in my opinion, by giving slaps on the wrist very violent and egregious juveniles is not only disrespectful to the victims, it is disrespectful to those young people as well, because we are selling them a dream that they can conduct themselves in this way without consequence.

That is only going to fast track their journey to either a jail cell or a morgue for the rest of their life.

I will not sit idly by, and I'm also interested in holding parents of repeat juvenile offenders accountable as well.

How would that work?

I mean, we have seen that in other parts of the country where we are now saying parents should be held responsible for the crimes of their children.

You would do that, too, in Jackson County?

Absolutely.

I'm the only candidate in this race who already has a seat at the table at CPD's weekly shoot review.

That happens every single Wednesday morning.

I see the cases.

I see incidents where parents can be proven to be complicit in the criminal conduct of their children or criminally negligent.

Where those circumstances exist, we will be evaluating endangering the welfare of a child in the first and second degree.

Tracy Chappell How would your approach be different, if at all?

Let me say this.

I'm the only candidate at the table who is actually prosecuted in juvenile.

I'm sorry, who has actually defended in juvenile law.

So I actually had a first seat, a firsthand seat at the table, dealing with juvenile defendants, dealing with their parents.

And it really is a unique situation that parents and juveniles find themselves into.

And so as a next Jackson County prosecutor, I'm finding that the attorney for the juvenile officer, they rarely certify juveniles as an adult on cases that I actually think that they should.

I have cases where juveniles have stolen a vehicle, and inside of that vehicle, they have had their AR 15 with them.

It was locked, loaded and ready to go.

And thank God the police got behind them and thwarted that situation.

But the attorney for juvenile officer decided not to certify a case like that.

So as what I understand in speaking with them before they certify a juvenile defendant, that they will actually get on the phone and call the Jackson County prosecutor and ask them the question, if we move to certify this individual as an adult, will you prosecute them as an adult?

And time and time again, what we're hearing is that the current administration is saying we will not do that.

But as your next Jackson County prosecutor, because I understand and I've been there when the attorney for juvenile officer actually says we want to certify them, I know that that is heinous enough where I will actually step up and do my job and I will actually sort of prosecute that person as an adult.

With a wave of car thefts and home break ins.

One of our viewers, Thomas, wrote to us, he says whoever is willing to prosecute property crime gets my vote.

Is that you or you?

Definitely me.

Tell us what actionable, realistic strategies to get us there.

If you look at the data, once that property crimes case gets in the door, they are being charged by Jackson County to the tune of 86%.

And this is not just based on Jackson County prosecutor's office data, but CPD's own 2023 annual report as well.

So how do we work collaboratively to get more cases in the door?

Is problem number one and then problem number two, we need to expand the office's capacity to be able to handle that increase in cases.

But Jackson County Prosecutor's Office is fully staffed.

Community prosecution is not a feasible way forward because we can't tack on additional caseload to an already full staff with full caseload.

So I am going to actually deploy prosecutors to the scenes of different high shoplifting areas to homes where the cars have been stolen to do a preliminary review of evidence and then engage PD to actually work up the case.

And I will also start a brand new property crimes prosecution division that will be staffed with attorneys and law students so that we can expand our capacity and actually be able to hold more people accountable.

Last year, 9063 reports for stolen auto taken by KC PD.

We have we need a lot more bodies to be able to handle that influx case.

Thomas, don't make your voting decision yet because that was only Melissa Johnson's response because we haven't heard from Tracy Chappell.

Are you going to be the person who's going to solve the property crimes?

Absolutely.

And I want to I want to say this.

What I'm continuously hearing is when I talk about prosecution or I'm going to be in the courtroom and doing these things, I am hearing this is the only when I talk about experience, I'm talking about my experience with the law.

When I hear my opponent talk, I hear her time and time again talk about programing.

Programing in Las Vegas, programing in Portland and other places, Programing, programing, programing.

Frankly, we are programed out.

Okay, So when we are looking at these property crimes that we are currently seeing and the rise of them, what happened is the prosecutor's office did not get in front of it.

So we're looking at the back end of it.

When I hear that the prosecutor's office is actually prosecuting, they're getting 1% of these property crimes and they are prosecuting 80%, 86% of that.

That is that.

I have to disagree with that wholeheartedly as we had prosecuted in the city of Blue Springs.

I cannot tell you the times that I have gotten tampering in the first degree, which is a car theft, come across my desk because the prosecutor's office failed and refused to do their job.

So with that said, police officers have gotten sick and tired of taking those cases to the prosecutor's office, only to be told that we're not going to prosecute those.

So they're not including that in the regular numbers of when they're there doing their statistics.

I can I can tell you that because I'm not talking about a program in Portland or anyone anywhere else I am talking about as a head prosecuting attorney, what I saw and that is not just in Blue Springs, that's in Kansas City, that is in Lee's Summit.

That is in Independence.

It is in every policing municipality that is in Jackson County.

You have to prosecute these cases because I can't tell you, Nick, and I'm going to put Jean Peters.

Baker has been going public now blasting at people who are this what she says is a myth about what's happening here.

Of the 1600 she says reported burglaries are breaking, only 81 cases were submitted to her office.

She says I'll have nearly 9000 theft offenses.

Only 52 cases were presented to her office.

So is it really her being soft on crime, not prosecuting or something else happening there?

Nick, She has always been soft on crime.

She has been strong.

Says she's got she's not getting those cases coming to her from the police.

Well, I'm getting I was getting cases those cases coming to my office.

And as the head prosecutor for the city of Blue Springs.

And in getting those cases, I actually consulted with the head prosecutors in other jurisdiction in Jackson County to ask them, are you getting strangulation?

That's a felony.

Are you getting tampering in the first degree?

That's a felony.

So is it not getting is it not prosecute all that simply the prosecutor is not getting those cases brought to them by the police?

This exchange is very concerning because if we aren't accurately diagnosing the problem, how can we devise real solutions?

It's not just based off of Jackson County prosecutor's office data, but CPD's own data as well.

And I do want to clarify one point.

There is a big difference between a program and an enforcement strategy.

Everything that I have discussed today are prosecutorial and enforcement strategies that actually strengthen our cases, increase our clearance rates and decrease case dismissals.

And I understand that my opponent might not know the difference because her extensive prosecutorial experience was handling traffic ticket.

I'm wondering, though, how were you going to achieve some of the results you talk about with these initiatives, especially when every night of the week it seems we can hear about someone in Kansas City who was on hold for three, 4 minutes or longer to get a response from 911, an acknowledgment from the city manager that, quote, We don't have jail space, so we have to release people early.

So even with all of these ideas are those for naught, if we don't fix those things, well, the city jail issue is separate and distinct from the Jackson County Detention Center issue.

There's currently 876 beds at Jackson County.

They've already broken ground on the new facility that will have 1000 beds.

And the way that my strategies are designed to fix this issue is collaboration.

If KPD is tied up, which we know they are short staffed and will be, how can my prosecutors fill in some of those gaps and work collaboratively to fix everybody's concerning statistics because we all have.

There has been a visible public rift between the prosecutor's office and the police department.

What would you do?

The biggest thing you would do to improve that relationship in the next four years if you're a prosecutor?

What I've been doing for the past four years, I have been working side by side with PD, building programmatic efforts from the ground up and not airing our grievances out for the entire public to see.

When we do that, the public loses confidence in the system entirely.

How would you do it?

Actually, we talked about community prosecution.

We have got to connect with the police departments.

We have also have to connect with neighborhood associations because we have to start working as a joint effort.

We have to do this in a joint effort.

Nick, when I'm sitting here, I'm you know, I'm hearing things that are that are being said by my opponent in order to really deal with the issue.

You need experience.

My opponent has no experience with 1.5 years in the Jackson County prosecutor's office back in 2014.

That is the extent of the criminal law experience that she has had.

And so when you have that, there's not a lot of faith that you have that a person in that in that who's have that skill set can walk in from day one, but has been director of the public Safety Department, the first director of public safety for the city, not count it.

Listen, there's no one in there but her.

She's the director of No one.

And when you go into the Jackson County prosecutor's office, I think you said it yourself, you are looking at being managing OC training attorneys when you've never trained an attorney and you yourself only have 1.5 years of experience, you still need training yourself.

Okay.

Does that put you at a disadvantage?

Absolutely not.

And when we're talking about experience, we have to tell the whole story.

I have a decade of public safety experience, felony prosecution, combat commissioner clerking for a federal judge who handled criminal cases and director of public safety.

But it's important to tell the whole story because my opponent was actually fired from the Jackson County Counselors office.

According to a Star article in August of 2016.

And her term, a contract with Blue Springs prosecutor's office, was terminated in January of 2022.

And so she's not good enough for Blue Springs.

The question becomes how can she be good enough for the entirety of Jackson County?

Response to that, I'm going to say it, and I'm so glad you brought that up.

Even with Blue Springs, I decided I did not want to be prosecutor anymore.

That was at my discretion.

We can I mean, we can ask Martha Mirror Ross.

That is the person who appointed me, and I'm.

Wait a minute.

I'm totally okay with that.

But time and time again, when you find an individual who has 1.5 years of experience and and who has misled Jackson County by saying, I've tried a case, I tried a murder, I tried an assault.

This individual has not tried any cases.

And when put to the test by her former opponent with has said, I thought Tracy was asking, what did I work on?

This is not a job that's fly by night, learn on the job or or a job about program.

This is a job about going in on day one and being able to fortify that office, being able to have the experience that people will follow.

And I can tell you right now, Nick, the older attorneys or the more senior attorneys, they cannot get behind somebody that actually needs training themselves.

I understand you can talk all you want to about programs, but when you don't have experience with the law, when you don't have experience with training officers, and I don't mean walking alongside officers in the streets or the mayor or the city council, but real you have it.

You have made your case there.

You mentioned a little bit a while ago they're about discretion and certainly prosecutors and why discretion to decide which cases to take, which to drop.

Current prosecutor Jean Peters Baker did not prosecute marijuana possession cases, notified the CP to stop sending her office.

Hundreds of low level drug crimes wouldn't prosecute.

Abortion related crimes supported Kansas City's decision not to enforce new transgender restrictions passed by the Missouri legislatures.

Those were her choices.

If you elected, what crimes, if any, would you choose not to prosecute?

Nick, I'll tell you this.

I want to take them on a case by case basis.

I don't want to come in with a one size blanket fits all.

I'm not going to prosecute.

And let me tell you why that is, why we are having the level of property crimes that we're having now, because it was not written in stone.

I'm not going to prosecute these car theft cases.

It just didn't happen.

And when you walk into an office with a one size fits all blanket policy and saying, I'm just not going to do this, I'm not going to do that, you are telling criminals it is okay for you to do this crime, this crime and this crime.

And because we are in a crisis, we do not have the luxury of walking into that office saying what we will not trust.

Melissa Johnson Are there crimes?

You would say, no, we're not going to prosecute If I'm in that office.

Reproductive care providers are not criminals, so I will not be prosecuting those cases under the current abortion ban.

In addition to that, which I do want to make, clarifying that that is a difference between my opponent and I.

But in addition to that lower level nonviolent drug offenses in places like Lee's Summit, which he Forbes, they are doing some innovative stuff out there with their safe patches safe passage program excuse me, where they are routing nonviolent lower level drug offenders to treatment.

Instead of wasting judicial resources on prosecuting those cases because they can cost about $18 million annually and they do not hamper down demand or make anybody safe.

And it's very difficult for an addict to restore themselves within the context of the carceral state.

Leading candidate for governor, Mike Kehoe, says if he's elected, he'll provide no sanctuary in Missouri for illegal immigration.

Will stand with Donald Trump to deport those here illegally.

That might put the squeeze on you.

If you get this job, would you decline to prosecute or assist with cases involving violations of immigration law if there is violence committed on another member of this community?

Yes.

Aside from that, I will let my Republican opponent and her colleagues carry that water.

Tracy, would you Nick, we're going to follow the law.

We don't get to decide what's legal, what's illegal, whatever the legislature and come down comes down with, That is what we're going to do.

Congratulations.

You've just been elected by the voters, Jackson County prosecutor.

And this first thing you do when you walk into the office as the new Jackson County prosecutor, the first big decision you make is what Jesus, the first.

I don't want to the I said Jesus is not the answer, but he is the answer.

But the first thing that I do when I walk into that office, the first decision that I made make I'm going to make and I've been speaking on this, I have got to create a unit for community prosecution.

Prosecution is grassroots.

You have to get the neighborhoods.

You have to get the police departments on board because the prosecutor is the bridge between the communities and the prosecution so that we can get this job done and make every zip code in Jackson County safe again.

There was a recount at the ballot box and you actually won and you're walking into the Jackson County prosecutor's office for the first time.

The first big decision you make is what?

First, let me say it is interesting to hear my opponent to talk about community and racial disparities when she has repeatedly said on camera, I am social justice out, which is very, very concerning.

But for me, day one, I will be resuming charging drug distribution cases across the board, whether there is a nexus to violence or not, so we can replicate the success of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department, who has cut their homicides in half in just four years.

Campaigns are all about comparing and contrasting.

You've given us a huge difference between you.

Thank you so much for that.

You've been watching the two candidates who want to be the next Jackson County prosecutor, Republican Tracy Chappell, and Democrat Melissa Johnson.

Now, up next, we head to Overland Park, where longtime Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe is in a fight for his political life.

This contentious election year.

We're heading to the fair and the event space where we've partnered with the Johnson County Bar Association to bring you the Johnson County District Attorney debate.

in Johnson County for the past 16 years.

He is the Republican candidate in this race.

Vanessa Riebli used to call Steve Howe, boss.

Now she's running against him with the Democratic Party label next to her name.

Riebli is a former assistant district attorney who now works as a defense attorney for a Leewood law firm.

Please greet our candidates Steve Howe has been the district attorney Steve Howe has been the district attorney today.

Steve Howe In many respects, this is a what have you done for me lately?

Kind of a job.

You've been in this office now for 16 years.

How has my life been better off since you've been D.A.

if I'm living in Johnson County?

Well, first of all, if you look at the crime rate since I took office, first of all, when I first took office, it went down after that.

And it's remained flat despite the fact that Johnson County's increased its population by 100,000 people, despite the fact that we're butt up against Wyandotte, Jackson County, which are high crime areas.

And that doesn't happen by accident.

And so that takes a lot of hard work and dedication by my staff, along with law enforcement, to get the job done.

And I think that's a testament of my office and our ability to keep the people safe.

The last time we were together was four years ago.

In the last time you were running for election.

In the last four years, what has been your biggest accomplishment?

I would say, first of all, our efforts to get a lot of the specialty courts on line, working with the courts on that.

We had a veterans treatment court and we now have a behavioral health court as well as a drug court, which I think will help in areas which I think we are really struggling in, which is drugs and mental health in our community.

And so I think they're going to be a big part of coming up with some solutions on things that are going to be important for our office when people intersect with the criminal justice system.

Vanessa, we many of us have seen Steve how for a long time we've seen his yard signs for a very long period of time in Johnson County.

Less of us know more about you.

Tell us about why you are running for this office and why you think you should be the D.A.

for the next four years.

I am running because we need new leadership and the Johnson County District Attorney's office and voters have to ask themselves themselves to the last 16 years, justify another four years.

And I want to talk to you about some numbers.

48%.

Johnson County government sent out a survey asking, do you believe crime is competent?

We prosecute it in Johnson County.

And in 2024, the number was 48%, 16.

That's the number of prosecutors that have left the office from 2020 to 2023.

And the last month, four more have resigned.

That's a 50% turnover in the last four years.

That affects communities safety.

I had a stat that 40% of the attorneys had less than five years experience.

That is going to change with about 65 years walking out the door.

From the last month resignations.

Three that's the number of Fraternal Order of Police organizations that are willing to step into this political race and endorse Overland Park later.

Lenexa.

They all have endorsed me.

Think about that.

I'm a defense attorney.

I'm on the dark side.

I'm a Democrat.

And they are willing to step into this.

Finally, six.

That's the number of jury trials I calculate my opponent has had since 2009.

I was on three of those cases.

And if you have any other questions, talk to defense attorneys.

But practice here in Johnson County and they'll tell you we need change.

Too much turnover in your office.

The need for change?

Well, when you have a big office that is run really well, guess what?

You get people peeled off and they're taken by other law firms.

You know, the thing about us losing people.

Yes.

That when you have a big office, you're going to lose people.

But the average years of experience in our office hasn't changed throughout that.

So every time we lose people, we bring in people with experience from other offices because we're one of the premier prosecutors offices in the region.

So that really doesn't play out the way Vanessa's describing it and it doesn't play out in the results that we get in.

So since I've been D.A., our results on homicide cases is 153 in two and even Bill Self would be happy with that record of performance.

And that doesn't happen by accident, and that's experienced people getting the job done.

So there hasn't been any problem with leadership in this office.

And in fact, I had an anonymous survey the county did about how we are performing, and it included the leadership of the office and we got high marks.

Exactly 93% of the people in the office were satisfied with how the office is run and and how, you know, we perform as an executive team.

And so this is this idea that the office is broken, doesn't meet the actual facts.

Some say miserably that the Johnson County D.A.

office is really the equivalent of running a 126 person law firm.

It is the largest D.A.

office in the state with a budget of $15 million.

What experience do you have of running 126 person organization of any kind?

I don't.

But I will tell you, I have the same experience that Steve Howell had when he stepped into that role.

I was the head of the economic crime unit in Johnson County for over a decade.

Mr. Howell was the head of the economic crime unit before he was moved to the section chief of interns.

So I believe we had identical experience when we moved in.

is the number one biggest threat to public safety in Johnson County right now?

And what are you doing to respond to it?

I would say the rise of fentanyl in our community has played a big role on public safety, and I'm very pleased with the approach that my office is taking with law enforcement to go after those fentanyl dealers.

And it's just not on the overdose deaths, but also on the cases where we seized the fentanyl pills from them.

We're getting significant savings.

Sentences.

We're talking about ten, 15, 20 years.

And so that is a huge impact on public safety.

The other thing is there's been four jury trials on overdose death cases in the state of Kansas.

We've tried three of them.

And so we take a very aggressive approach.

And in fact, the city of Overland Park is giving an award to two of my staff for their work on overdose.

The overdose death cases.

And so I think it's a testament that how hard we're working with law enforcement to address a growing problem in our community.

And it also requires education and leadership, working with the community and community partners to try to educate the youth in this community about the dangers of that.

In the past four years, Steve, the drug Fentanyl was killed 170 people in Johnson County.

Your primary opponent claimed you've been slow to respond, only charging eight people for distributing the illegal opioid.

Did he get the numbers wrong or is that another explanation?

No, it is.

And in fact, these cases are very difficult.

And it's not the fault of law enforcement that we can't put the case together some instances because you have to say this particular pill is the one that killed that individual and I'm the one who gave it to him.

And so those are difficult cases to put together.

But I will say we're doing a much better job than most other jurisdictions across the state.

And I'm very proud of the work we do as well as law enforcement in Johnson County.

Vanessa, really, the biggest single threat, public safety threat in Johnson County is what, the drug crisis, the financial crisis.

So what are you going to do to respond to that?

And how would you be different in your approach?

Mr. Steve How so?

We're going to have a new sheriff in town, I predict, here in a month or so.

Chief Roberson is here and the Johnson County Drug Task Force is going to go from one duty to participating to many.

So one of the things I want to do is have an assistant district attorney assigned to that task force.

So detectives no longer have to call the front desk and be transferred to a prosecutor.

They're going to have somebody they can immediately talk to.

I also want to start a prosecutor's fentanyl overdose working group that would encompass our federal partners who are having great success trying these cases, as well as all the local jurisdiction and in our municipal courts.

So we need to work as a team.

We need to collaborate with others because we're going to have the opportunity to try these cases and work harder with the number of investigations that are going to be increased because of this task force miserably.

What is the single biggest action or decision you would make as D.A.

to lower violent crime, to lower it?

So I will say that we have staff that in the last year, violent crime has gone up for months.

Violent crime is a combination of drug abuse, mental health and firearms.

So what we have to do, I want to bring back specialties within the office so we have subject matter expertise and we want to make sure that we work with our law enforcement partners to target problem areas.

For instance, Oak Park Mall over a decade ago, I helped institute a policy that was more aggressive on misdemeanor cases because of what was occurring at the mall high you know, people with high level of criminal activity carrying guns, battering loss prevention officers.

We want people to know that if you come to Johnson County, there are consequences.

But we have to work with the drug epidemic as well as the gun epidemic.

Name one thing, Steve, how you have done to reduce violent crime in Johnson County since you were reelected four years ago.

Well, first of all, when we've had these felony drug raps, which have caused a lot of youth to be killed and involved in felony murder, we've taken a very aggressive stance of prosecuting those individuals and been very successful at it.

That sends a message that this type of violence in our community won't be tolerated.

And I want to go back to what you said about the Oak Park Mall and going being aggressive in those situations.

I just wanted her to know that we've been doing that.

We actually have a policy that one of your predecessors, New FBI crime figures show a double digit rise in juveniles accused of violent crimes.

Last year there was a 30% jump in the number of teenagers arrested for property crimes.

What's the fix, Steve?

How should one of those responses be trying more juveniles in adult court where the penalties are greater?

We I think he's pretty good discretion in dealing with that situation on violent crimes.

And there's also conditions on under state law about when you can waive an individual to adult status.

And it depends on the severity of the crime.

I think we do a very effective job of deciding to our discretion which cases should be waived to adult status because of the degree of violence associated with that.

And so we have taken a very aggressive approach, as I talked about, with these individuals who are committing these felony murder cases in Johnson County.

And I think it's had a huge impact.

We had an uptick.

And since then, it's not been at the level that we've had two or three years ago.

, Riebli what is the fix for juvenile crime?

Should we be trying more juveniles in adult court where the consequences are far greater and the penalties are greater?

I don't think that's necessarily the answer.

I think we have to get to the root of the problem, which is mental health, substance abuse issues.

And we also have to balance, you know, punishment with the fact that they are juveniles.

then, yes, it's going to be a much more stricter approach.

And anybody that has worked with me knows my philosophy, knows that I am tough on crime.

But we also have to balance with the fact that we need to try to get treatment.

And you know, move them in the direction that they need to be moved early as opposed to just locking them up and throwing away the key on a first offense.

You know, when you go to Social media sites like next door in Johnson County, it seems the public has some real clear answers about what they'd like to see done.

One of them is holding parents responsible for that parent or their children's crimes.

Increasingly, prosecutors around the country are charging parents for their kid's criminal activity.

Do you support that in Johnson County?

Because there are two cases that have recently been charged where the parents were held responsible and those were egregiously reckless acts.

Their children had mental health issues.

They allowed them access to firearms.

And in one instance, they knew of a planned threat.

So and I remember listening to an attorney general saying, this is not going to be a trend because we're not going to have parents committing these types of reckless act.

And then we had another one within six months.

So, yes, I would say I would hold parents responsible when they rise to that level of reckless conduct.

Steve, how do you support charging parents for the crimes of their children?

I would agree with Vanessa.

You're going to have to show some reckless conduct on their part being put on notice and not taking steps.

If a person has a substance use substance abuse or a mental health issue and allowing them to have access to guns, or they've been warned about the behavior of their juvenile, let's say they're making threats to other individuals and you don't take any steps necessary to protect themselves and protect the public.

You're going to have to establish a pretty high standard in order to go after those parents.

While shootings get most of the headlines on the evening news, there's been an uptick in property crimes all across the county, and residents are certainly getting frustrated.

If you've had your car broken into or your vehicle stolen, perhaps it's a burglary at your house or your business.

What can you tell us you're going to do, Steve?

How to make us feel safer and prevent these property crimes from happening in the first place?

Well, these career offenders who basically every day of the week, their job is to rip off somebody are clearly a target that law enforcement is going after.

We've backed them up on that.

And basically what we have established is if someone is a career offender, they have a consistent pattern of conduct that we submit those cases in an aggressive way and try to get high bonds with our judges.

I will tell you a story.

There was a smash and grab at Oak Park, and the police took that person into custody and they looked at him and said, Give me my ticket so I can go home because they were used to how Jackson County did things.

And the detective turned over to them and said, Oh, contraire, you're going to jail today.

And so that's the message we want to send.

That's what we need to indicate to protect our businesses, to protect our community by not looking the other way when there's property crime, because that's a slippery slope.

You start allowing more and more property crime and soon you become Jackson County.

And so that's something that we've resisted.

And that's why I think our crime rate has remained low, is because of our effective leadership and also our coordination with our law enforcement partners.

bli Rie, how would your approach be different?

is property crime is tied to drug abuse.

I did an interview over a decade ago that talked about that there was a direct connection between methamphetamine use and identity theft because they needed to get money for drugs.

What I will say is in visiting with the different Fraternal Order of Police organizations and finding out what's going well, what can we do better?

One of the consistent statements was you're not the office is not prosecuting these car burglaries.

It's called car hopping.

What will happen is two or three individuals or more will go down the street and they will break into numerous cars.

Because in Johnson County, a lot of people keep, you know, credit cards and firearms and purses that cost over $1,000 in cash.

It's a gold mine.

And what I'm being told is these cases are not being filed.

So that's something that's going to change because these are career offenders that are committing these crimes.

So what I also tell people is if you see somebody breaking into your car, just let them do it.

We had a business owner over in Missouri recently killed when he tried to stop that.

So you never know who you're dealing with.

And that's why we have to deal with them effectively and quickly.

I want to look at an attack on both of you.

And we're going to start with you, Steve.

How if I could be so bold.

A Kansas City Star editorial says this of this of you while how was experiences a long time prosecute that he has not done enough to hold accountable wayward county law enforcement officials who use excessive force or break the public's trust.

Do you have an unusually soft spot for police or has the star simply got it wrong?

Well, that's so far from the truth.

So, first of all, in my career, we've charged plenty of officers with domestic violence, felony domestic violence, DUI theft.

So that's not the test.

The test is applying the law and the evidence.

And in officer involved shootings in particular, which does I know they criticize me quite a bit about that.

You have to apply the facts and the evidence and not make a political decision, but make a legal decision on whether or not the officer's justified in using force.

And I will say this.

The reason why so many of our officers are considered to have justifiable reasons to use deadly force applying Kansas law is because they are trained incredibly well by our law enforcement community.

We don't have a problem with law enforcement agencies that don't do proper training.

And so I think it's a testament actually, to how well-run our law enforcement agencies are that an officer hasn't been charged for an unlawful use of deadly force.

The other thing is, when I do this, I am transparent about how and why I make those decisions.

I am the only D.A.

in the Metropolitan.

Every time one of those cases happen, I do a press release outlining the facts and the law.

I stand before the media and answer every question they have.

And when they're done asking questions, I leave.

I meet with every family that's effective.

I answer their questions.

I give them access to the videos.

And when we have those press conferences, I play the videos.

If they're available.

So when we talk about transparency and giving the community faith in the decisions we make.

I do something that no one else does in the entire metropolitan area, and I'm proud of it.

Okay.

Since you bring up transparency, I'm going to give you a chance to respond in a moment in this region.

But actually, your opponent's web site claims she'll be rebuilding community trust by being, quote, more transparent about how the office operates.

You think that the that it's not transparent now?

Miserably.

I do not.

I was trying to find statistics to talk about during this debate and the annual reports are no longer easily accessible.

And I couldn't find jury trial stats for the last two years.

If you pay a visit to the Jackson County prosecutors website, you will see in data dashboard.

And when I am D.A., we are going to have that.

It shows the number of cases submitted.

The number of cases of charge from which jurisdictions, what types of cases?

It shows the number of jury trials that occurred.

It shows the dispositions of those jury trials.

Those statistics are not available in the Johnson County District Attorney's office.

And as taxpayers, you deserve to know what is going on in that office.

Your response to that, Mr. Harvey?

I do a year end report that outlines the specifics and the facts of what we did as an office, and that includes many things that she did not include, is in regards to the number of cases we file the cases reviewed.

What we do in each of our units in the office.

And so it's a pretty complete year end report.

The other thing about transparency is I make myself available to the media to answer questions on a variety of different subjects more than anybody else does.

And I also field questions from the general public if they have questions about something about my office.

One of the things that I preach to my staff is I don't want this office to be a black hole where you call and you never get a live person.

And so I field a lot of questions from concerned citizens.

I listen to their concerns.

I go out and speak to various groups and get their input.

I make myself available in a variety of different ways.

And if people have questions, I answer those questions.

And so I believe that this office is transparent and effective at doing their job.

I started this segment of our debate talking about the police aspect and how you balance holding police accountable.

I didn't get your response to that miserably as district attorney.

How would you balance the needs of the police to maintain order while holding them accountable when their actions harm citizens of Johnson County?

They have to be held accountable.

Just like I say that I want to be held accountable.

I was hired by the Overland Park Folkie to help prosecute try to prosecute four officers who stole money from the Overland Park Charitable Foundation.

So law enforcement hired me to prosecute four of their own.

That case ultimately was not prosecuted.

Steve had it in his office for over 18 months.

I talked to four different prosecutors who touch that case during the pendency of the investigation and ultimately, those funds were supposed to be used for catastrophic injury or death for a law enforcement officer.

If you were D.A.

at the time, you would have prosecuted those cases?

I would have, because I don't believe paying a vet bill for your personal dog qualifies as catastrophic injury or death.

We have to hold ourselves accountable.

Every profession often has what we call bad apples, and it makes all of us look bad.

The solution to that is making sure that people are held accountable, and they will be, under my administration.

Your response to that, Steve?

Well, first of all, you represented the FOP.

I'm sorry.

I'm assuming that you're speaking on their behalf at this point.

But what actually happened was there was destruction of evidence which led to us having to go do a download of various electronic devices.

It took a long time, and that's not atypical in those types of cases.

I did a 16 page report that outlined why this was not a crime.

And part of it was that the administration of the FOP and its membership were profiting from this new expansion of use of funds.

So there is no unauthorized control because everybody has blessed this.

It's not by deception.

And so not every unethical thing is a crime.

And so we did the right thing in making the right call.

I'm not going to make a political decision.

Apparently, Vanessa will.

I'm going to base mine on the law and the evidence.

And what I'm going to do is do what I did in this case, which is send it to the AG's office so they can go after them for their non for profit violations.

Sometimes you have to make tough decisions, but it has to be based on the lawn evidence and not political pressure.

How much does politics play in the office of District Attorney?

And it's really interestingly on your website, you list as one of your main priorities, quote, ensuring women can make personal health care decisions without fear of being prosecuted for political purposes, all women being prosecuted for political purposes now in Johnson County.

And if not, why did you list that on your website?

Are you playing politics with the Office?

No simple answer.

I worked for Phil Kline for four months.

You his predecessor, correct.

When he came into the office or abortion was his number one issue.

One of the reasons that I left, I was cornered in my office and I was asked what my views on abortion were.

And he ultimately filed a case against that.

So I'm not calling Steve Howe Phil Kline.

But what I am saying is that there are certain officials who will do that and in my office that that's not going to be the case because I lived that for four months and saw what a political prosecutor does to the community and does to public safety.

Steve, how does the fact that you are running as a Republican influence your approach to this job?

And when I first ran, if you look at the tag on my campaign and it was the same one I used back in 2008.

Public safety not politics.

And my my pledge to the people of Johnson County was that my decisions were going to be based on the long the evidence and I will not make and have not made any political decisions.

As a as your district attorney, I feel very strongly as an American that the criminal justice system has been under attack for the last five or ten years and the credibility of our system and the D.A.

plays a big role in that.

It's essential that we base our decisions on the law and not politics.

If it doesn't make a difference.

And just remember, the Johnson County Commission that leads the county are all nonpartisan positions.

Would you support a move to make the district attorney a nonpartisan office?

I don't agree with that.

I think that's a way to hide what your true values and beliefs are.

And so I think, you know, our political system has worked for a long time, and I don't think there's anything wrong with parties.

And we have a lot of divisiveness right now, but we're all Americans and we have different views and values.

And I think we should embrace that.

And we can agree to disagree on things.

But I think the party system still is the best way to approach it.

Vanessa, would you support a move to make the district attorney a nonpartisan office?

I would.

And here's why.

When I am knocking on doors and when I'm doing phone banking, one of the first questions is, are you a Democrat or a Republican?

And depending upon what their party is, there can sometimes be hostile responses.

It shouldn't be that way.

This office is for community safety purposes.

It shouldn't matter if I'm a Republican or a Democrat, but some people will vote strictly on party lines as opposed to who is the best qualified.

li, have lots more questions from these candidates.

By the way.

You can go to our Kansas City PBS YouTube page to see more of Steve Howe and Vanessa Riebli including lots of questions from our Johnson County Bar Association members like this one.

What is a characteristic of your opponent that you respect and why?

Vanessa He's always been very kind to me.

And I think he is a great father.

I was in the office when he was raising his kids, and he was always fully engaged in their sports.

And as far as I know, they've done well.

So that's what I would say.

And Steve, Vanessa is a top rated lawyer.

And this this race, it's really good in the sense that this isn't about whether or not you have a D.A.

who can try cases and do the tough stuff.

Both of us have been down that road.

Vanessa is an incredible lawyer.

And so I am very proud of what she's become as a trial lawyer.

If you're so impressed, you're actually still considering voting for her, Steve.

Well, maybe not that far.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Let me ask you, I just got back.

You have been watching the two candidates You have been watching the two candidates who want to be Johnson County district attorney for the next four years.

Republican incumbent Steve Howe and Democratic challenger Vanessa Riebli, From everyone here at the Fiorella Events Space in Overland Park and from our terrific partners with the Johnson County Bar Association, I'm Nick Haynes.

Well, keep calm and carry on.

Okay.

And.