The Wichita lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police is critical of a political campaign mailer for Mayor Brandon Whipple, who is running for a second term in office.

The mailer describes Whipple as a “pro-police” candidate.  It was paid for and authorized by the Kansas Democratic Party, and it states Whipple “kept his promise” to provide police with additional tools and resources needed to solve crimes. It claims Whipple increased the Wichita police budget from $89 million to $112 million, expanded mental health first responder teams, and helped reduce catalytic converter thefts.

At a news conference Monday at the FOP Lodge 5 headquarters in Wichita, Kansas State FOP president Casey Slaughter said the mailer is misleading and it falsely claims that law enforcement supports Whipple.  He said ” I want to make it very clear: We do not support Brandon Whipple.”

FOP leaders criticized Whipple’s interaction with a police officer during a neighborhood cleanup event last year.  Lodge 5 president David Inkelaar said Whipple has never apologized to the police officer over that confrontation.    Inkelaar said morale in the police department has gone down under Whipple’s tenure, and the $30 million added to the police budget that was highlighted in the campaign mailer was actually in the works before Whipple took office.

The news conference was attended by a number of Republican elected officials from Sedgwick County and the Kansas Legislature.

Mayor Whipple issued a statement in response to the FOP news conference:

“We expanded our mental health teams and hired the top law enforcement experts in the country to help us craft a blueprint to attract and retain the best officers in Wichita and rebuild trust in the community. What I refused to do was ignore the racist and homophobic text messages that glorified violence against our residents. That toxic culture hurt recruitment and morale within the Wichita Police Department and it will not continue on my watch.”

The Wichita FOP continues to fight the City at every turn to hold these bad actors accountable. I support our police and will never turn a blind eye to bad behavior from any department. I work closely with our Police Chief and his team and support his plan to modernize our police department. I’m confident the WPD is on the right track, despite misleading statements by the Wichita FOP.”