A Johnson County man fears his business may fail due to relatively new law enforcement from local police.
Charles Bell has owned T.A.P.S., or Traffic and Public Safety, since 2011.
The private security company specializes in leading funeral processions.
However, Bell said his company has received four citations in the past year from local police, setting him back thousands of dollars.
"They have said they're not going to allow it," he said. "We've had a state trooper, during a military funeral going up to Leavenworth, actively pull our officer over."
Unless high profile, many police departments have ceased leading funeral processions. Therefore it's now common for private companies to lead the caravan of vehicles to loved ones' final destinations.
Bell said he and his staff have the proper training and clearly mark their cars. However, Olathe and Lenexa police departments have both told Bell, and other similar local companies, they will now be enforcing standard traffic laws to their drivers like everyone else.
"We just want them to safely operate," said Lenexa Police Captain Diana Mendoza. "If the light is green, of course you can take that procession through."
Mendoza said her department has given out five violations to three companies over 18 months. Violations include: blocking traffic , speeding, stopping where prohibited and impeding traffic.
"There's a lot more traffic. A lot more distractions on the road. Fifteen, 20 years ago, if you saw a funeral procession come through people automatically pulled over. That's not quite the practice anymore," said Mendoza.
"We sat down a year ago with all the companies and gave them suggestions on how they can run this traffic safely and what to do and what not to do and covered the Kansas traffic statutes with them. We've also suggested just doing a procession for the hearse. The immediate family, you can get five or six cars through an intersection on a green light," she said.
A legislative reference librarian in Topeka confirmed with 41 Action News there are no state laws in Kansas that mention funeral processions. Enforcement depends solely from city to city.
Bell said he also operates in Missouri where he has not received any tickets.
While Bell has adjusted to law enforcement in Johnson County by stopping at red lights and breaking processions into smaller caravans, he still plans to fight to change the law so that he can lead funeral processions as effectively as police would for one of their lost loved ones.
"I think it's a cause worth fighting for, to allow us to honor our loved ones just as much as they would honor one of their fellow employees. We feel that the police pulling us over, talking with us, pulling us away from our duties, is interfering with the privacy of the funeral," he said. "I think we definitely need to take it to the legislature. I think the families deserve the honor."
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com
