A Longstanding Collaboration to Save Lives
For more than 30 years, Rose Brooks Center and the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) have worked side-by-side to prevent domestic violence and protect survivors. What began as a shared concern has grown into a collaboration model of community safety, serving thousands of families across Kansas City.
Key milestones in the ongoing collaboration between Rose Brooks Center and the KCPD include:
- 1994: The Domestic Violence Section within the Special Victims Unit under Violent Crimes Division and Investigations Bureau is formed based on the collaboration between Rose Brooks Center and the KCPD.
- 2006 – 2008: Two new positions, Domestic Violence Arrest Coordinator and the Rose Brooks Victim Advocate, are created. All state cases are referred to the Rose Brooks Victim advocate.
- 2009: Launch of the Lethality Assessment Program (LAP), a research-based lethality screening tool and accompanying protocol that has connected over 35,000 high-risk victims to life-saving services through Rose Brooks Center.
- 2014: KCPD begins incorporating strangulation training into basic recruit training after gaining permission from the Missouri POST (Police Officer Standards and Training) Commission.
- 2020: KCPD and Rose Brooks Center become part of a larger coordinated response known as the Blueprint for Safety—a citywide system that ensures consistent, trauma-informed care from the moment a 911 call is made to post-conviction follow-up.
- 2024: the Jackson County Domestic Violence Fatality Review Panel, chaired by Rose Brooks Center CEO Lisa Fleming, became the first in the state to complete and submit a comprehensive review.
Additionally, since 2016, Rose Brooks Center’s community Coordinated Response team have conducted 319 training courses to 6,792 law enforcement individuals. These initiatives ensure that the KCPD is better equipped to respond to domestic-violence related calls and identify high-lethality situations – both of which result in lives saved.
A Ride-Along with Purpose
Rose Brooks Center advocates have participated in KCPD ride-alongs for years. As part of this continuing effort, Andrea Raya, Community Coordinated Response Manager at Rose Brooks Center, spent a recent Friday connecting with frontline officers and deepening this partnership which helps bring safety, justice, and healing to survivors of domestic violence.
Andrea joined Officers Andrew Taylor and Tyler Kuehn from KCPD’s Metro Patrol Division to see their work in action. Covering a wide patrol area from Ward Parkway to Raytown and the Plaza to Bannister, the day included four calls for service:
- A nonresidential robbery
- A juvenile safety concern
- Gang violence threats at a funeral
- And an armed individual threatening a community member
Between calls, officers conducted proactive patrols in high-crime neighborhoods and attempted to locate individuals with outstanding warrants or probation violations.
Systemic Challenges Require Systemic Solutions
A key concern that this ride-along brought to light is a challenge that the entire city faces: Kansas City currently has only 16 jail beds available for offenders. With limited detention space, officers must make difficult choices about who to arrest and who to ticket.
“Rose Brooks Center provides lifesaving services for survivors.” Andrea said. “If our criminal legal system does not have the means to take offenders off the streets, however, they will continue to inflict harm in our community.”
This reality underlines the importance of investing in every part of the system—law enforcement, courts, advocacy, and community education—to create a truly effective response to domestic violence.
Education and Outreach: A Path Forward
For Andrea, one of the day’s most unexpected moments involved the juvenile safety concern call. She instantly thought of Project SAFE, Rose Brooks Center’s school-based prevention program that teaches students about healthy relationships and safety planning.
The juvenile to which KCPD responded was not aware of Rose Brooks Center or Project SAFE, even though that program is in their school. This interaction highlighted the importance of teaching youth about safety and resilience. “The same goes for everyone,” Andrea reflected, “…understanding the nature and dynamics of domestic violence and functioning of the criminal/legal system can influence how we can make systematic change to create safer communities.”
Understanding the nature and dynamics of domestic violence and functioning of the criminal/legal system can influence how we can make systematic change to create safer communities.”
-Andrea Raya, Coordinated Community Response Manager
Ride-Alongs Strengthen the Connection Between Community and Safety
Ride-alongs are open to community members, and Andrea encourages others to participate. “Everyone should experience a ride-along to see the community needs first-hand and observe the complexities of our criminal legal system in real time.”
This ongoing collaboration between the KCPD and Rose Brooks Center is about more than responding to violence—it’s about preventing it, building trust, and creating a safer future for everyone.
For more information about participating in a KCPD Ride-Along, visit kcpolice.org/community/ride-alongs
For more information about Rose Brooks Center’s work or how you can get involved, visit rosebrooks.org/service/police-advocacy
