Eric DeValkenaere still has a Missouri peace officer license. That's wrong
Now that the criminal case and civil litigation involving former Kansas City Police Detective Eric DeValkenaere have concluded, I'd like to see the ex-lawman officially stripped of his peace officer license.
As it stands, DeValkenaere's license is merely inactive, which means he cannot be commissioned as a police officer this state until his license is made active again, according to Mike O'Connell, a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
Having an inactive license does not necessarily preclude DeValkenaere from being an officer again in the future, though. Only the state revoking his license or him voluntarily surrendering it could prevent that.
'Eric DeValkenaere has an inactive Class A peace officer license,' O'Connell wrote in an email. 'In Missouri, no one can hold a commission with a law enforcement agency without an active peace officer license.'
I was told several factors could lead to an inactive license. In general, all peace officers in this state are required to take 24 hours of continuing law enforcement education courses each year, according to O'Connell.
'Officers who fail to show they are compliant with training requirements for any year, may, at the discretion of the Director of Public Safety, have their peace officer license made inactive, which means they cannot hold a commission until they demonstrate they have completed their CLEE training requirements,' he wrote.
It seems only a technicality is keeping DeValkenaere from working in law enforcement again. Missouri must act and immediately suspend the peace officer license of the first Kansas City officer ever convicted of killing an unarmed Black man.
DeValkenaere doesn't deserve to ever wear a badge again. He fatally shot Lamb and planted a gun at the crime scene to justify his inexplicable actions, according to Jackson County prosecutors.
As a convicted felon, he has no legal right to carry a gun, either. If he has any sense of remorse, he would voluntarily surrender his certification. If he doesn't feel compelled to make that move, then Missouri Public Safety Director Mark James, appointed in January, should immediately suspend DeValkenaere's license and start the review process for permanent revocation.
Under state statutes, James has the power to do just that. Any officer indicted for, charged with or convicted of a felony is subject to immediate suspension until an investigation is completed, a hearing is held and final determination is made.
After Lamb's 2019 killing, DeValkenerare checked all three of those boxes — so it is fair to ask why he hasn't officially lost his ability to be a police officer.
In 2021, DeValkenaere was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action for killing Lamb. He was sentenced to six years in prison but served just over a year before former Gov. Mike Parson commuted the sentence. His successor Mike Kehoe has been been a vocal supporter of the convicted felon, callinghttps://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/melinda-henneberger/article295504484.html
,' and promising to get him out of prison while on the campaign trail.
There's one possible explanation as to why no action has been taken against DeValkenaere's license: No one may have filed a formal complaint with Missouri's Peace Officer Standards and Training division to kick-start the process. Because of a state law that protects police officers' personnel records, we have no way of knowing if a complaint against this convicted felon is on file.
But of all the names that appeared on a state list of revoked and surrendered peace officer licenses, DeValkenaere's isn't among them.
Other Kansas City-area officers who committed illegal or questionable acts were on the list, including former Kansas City police officer Jason Moran and ex-Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers.
Moran, a 22-year veteran with KCPD, surrendered his peace officer certification after he pleaded guilty last year to assault and harassment stemming from a road rage incident. Childers did the same after reaching a settlement agreement with state officials for running an unsanctioned work program for jail inmates.
Days after a settlement was announced between Lamb's family and the KCPD, I checked the Department of Public Safety's online database for revoked licenses, and DeValkenaere's name was nowhere to be found.
And that should sound the alarm for all Missourians, National Police Accountability Project executive director Lauren Bonds said.
State police licensing agencies have broad discretion about when and whether to revoke an officer's license, she said. In many states, conviction of a crime would automatically trigger suspension or revocation of a license — but not in Missouri.
'Even if you disagree about whether an officer should face prison time for wrongfully killing someone, most people would agree that an officer that breaks the law and takes a life should not be an officer anymore,' Bonds said.
Whether a complaint against DeValkenaere is on file or not, that shouldn't matter, in her opinion.
'Losing a policing license should be the bare minimum consequence for an officer that wrongfully kills someone,' she said.
With DeValkenaere, that really doesn't seem to be the case.
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