KCPD Chief Stacey Graves to Keynote Park University’s Women Transforming Criminal Justice Event

February 22, 2024 — Stacey Graves, chief of the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, will be the featured speaker for Park University’s Women Transforming Criminal Justice event on Wednesday, March 13. The discussion, held as part of Women’s History Month, will take place virtually at parkumedia.com on Wednesday, March 13, from 9 to 10:30 a.m.

Graves, who was appointed as the first woman to serve as permanent chief of the KCPD in December 2022, will share her experiences and insights on how women are making a difference within the criminal justice system.

A lifelong Kansas Citian, Graves began her career at KCPD in 1997 as a civilian records clerk. After joining the police academy in December 1997, she held multiple assignments as a police officer, including Central Patrol Division, East Patrol Division, Drug Enforcement Unit and Career Criminal Section. Graves was promoted to sergeant in 2007 and during that tenure, she served in Patrol, the Media Unit as a public information officer and as she was an operations sergeant in the chief’s office serving under Darryl Forte (a 1990 Park University graduate). After being promoted to captain in 2014, Graves was assigned to Internal Affairs before returning to the Media Unit and Patrol. In 2018, she was promoted to major and served as commander of Shoal Creek Division, Human Resources and as the executive officer in the Patrol Bureau Office.

Graves earned an Executive Master of Business Administration degree in leadership from Benedictine College, a Bachelor of Arts degree in administration of justice from the University of Missouri – Kansas City and an Associate in Arts degree from Metropolitan Community College (Penn Valley campus).

The event is sponsored by the University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Department of Politics and Administration.