Wichita City Council to vote on new police union contract. What’s in it, and what’s not?
The Wichita City Council is poised to vote on a new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police that gives officers hefty raises and eliminates one controversial provision that allowed officers to buy their way out of suspensions. But the contract won’t include many of the police accountability recommendations put forward in a $214,000 report by national police consultant group Jensen Hughes in 2023, and in at least one instance directly conflicts with a Jensen Hughes recommendation. Those proposals — including changes to officer discipline, promotion policies aimed at diversifying the department, excessive force policies and a requirement that officers immediately [...]