Kansas City police officers will be required to wear seat belts

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City police officials are changing a procedure that allowed seat-belt reminder alarms to be disabled in patrol cars.

Police mechanics had been disabling the alarms, which are supposed to beep until officers put on their seat belts. A recent Kansas City Star story said some officers don't like wearing seat belts on duty because they think the seat belts will prevent them from getting out of their cars quickly or getting to their gun when they need it.

Deputy Police Chief Cy Ritter told board members Thursday that all patrol cars will be inspected to make sure the alarms are functioning.

Ritter said officers must wear their seat belts per department policy.