KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers portions of Johnson County, including Overland Park, Prairie Village and Leawood. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
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Overland Park's Police Chief Doreen Jokerst is nearing one year on the job.
Jokerst was hired in October 2024 and is the first woman to serve as the city's police chief.
On Thursday night, Chief Jokerst was invited to a community listening session led by the Advocacy and Awareness Group of Johnson County.
It was the group's first time hosting an in-person dialogue with a police chief.
The event aligns with a mission important to Chief Jokerst: involving the community in policing.
"This is their police department," Chief Jokerst said. "Anything they need, if they have questions, want to offer suggestions, want to be a part of our police department...I welcome that."
The chief shared her background in law enforcement and the areas she's working on in the department.
The department has 278 police officers.
When Chief Jokerst took over the department, there were 40 job vacancies.
Now, vacancies are down to 17.
The department has never had a strategic plan.
The chief is working on getting a contractor to create a plan for the department, including community feedback about police practices, evaluating existing policies, hiring, and communication with the community.
"Transparency is so important, and quite frankly, something in the state of Kansas we're behind on," said Haile Sims, president of Advocacy and Awareness Groups of Johnson County.
A few dozen people attended Thursday's event to hear from the chief.
Some of them asked Chief Jokerst questions about issues they care about.
"Do you have a process in working with ICE when they go to raid different locations?" someone asked.
The Chief responded they don't have any contracts with ICE, but Kansas law prohibits the department from interfering with operations.
Sheila Albers, whose son was shot and killed by an Overland Park police officer in 2018, wanted clear answers on transparency.
"In Kansas, one of the things I'm not proud of — body camera footage and documentation is not readily available to the community that pays for the cameras and pays for the data storage," Albers said. "Where do you see Overland Park going in the future, and what role do you think transparency plays in building community trust?"
The chief responded: "Body-worn camera policy is going through review. I believe, post critical incidents, in looking at different things, that bad news does not age like fine wine. I would like to get information out there."
AAGJC said it's discussing events like the one Thursday night with other police departments throughout Johnson County.
The group thinks Overland Park can have a ripple effect with policy decisions.
"They have the ability to lead change," Sims said. "If they change something, many other police departments in the county will adopt that change."
