KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former Gov. Eric Greitens took a ride with the Kansas City Police Department on Friday. Before that, he posted a video on his Twitter page.

“Hey guys, head out with the KCPD for another ride tonight,” the now-deleted video read.

The video, however, created controversy from people who believed Greitens was making the ride for political purposes.

“I think we have a program where almost anyone in the audience gets a chance to get a ride,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said Monday. “They go through a procedure. It’s generally approved, and hopefully they won’t necessarily use it to cut a political ad immediately afterwards. »

However, that is what happened on Friday. On Monday, Greitens’ campaign said he wanted to “see firsthand the challenges officers face on a daily basis — especially when Democratic Mayor Quinton Lucas has pledged to defund the police and has been unable to to get himself a ride”.

Lucas is one of five police board commissioners who knows the process of getting a carpool within the department.

“I did a number of accompaniments. I plan to do them again, and sometimes you will describe that you were on one. Every once in a while you’ll get a picture with an officer or a sheriff’s deputy or something,” Lucas said Monday.

“What you don’t see and what I’ve never seen is the kind of campaign imagery in the video, having officers turn their lights on, not responding to an incident and really trying to use Kansas City Police branding. Department to support your United States Senate campaign.

The police commission said it asked Greitens’ campaign to take down the video.

“The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department is a non-partisan organization and we do not promote or support political candidates. All citizens are welcome and encouraged to take a ride, but this should not be used to promote a political position,” according to a statement from the Board of Police Commissioners. “Official approval for filming was not obtained from our department in this case. As soon as we were notified of the posting, we asked the campaign to remove the video and they complied.

“The ride has been approved by the North Patrol Division,” KCPD spokesman Jake Becchina said Monday.

Becchina was unsure who in the division specifically knocked out Greitens on Friday in the race.