Former Overland Park Deputy Chief of Police Simon Happer is now the Kansas City Jewish community’s security chief.
His role includes serving as the regional security advisor of Kansas and Western Missouri for the Secure Community Network (SCN), a nonprofit Jewish Federation partner that serves as the official security arm of North American Jewish communities, and the official liaison with local and federal law enforcement. He began in December, succeeding Chuck Green as the local security lead.
Happer spent more than 35 years in law enforcement, the last 15 of which as deputy chief of police in Overland Park. He also has led investigative teams such as the Johnson County Officer-Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team (an independent organization that investigates officers who use deadly force) and the Kansas City Metro Squad (a unit that investigates serious crimes across the Kansas City metro). He, his children and his granddaughter are all lifelong residents of Overland Park.
Happer began in the U.S. Marine Corps and graduated from the University of Kansas. After a knee injury, he could no longer stay in the Marines and subsequently switched to working in Overland Park’s human resources department, where he began his path toward law enforcement.
“I was working on a project with one of the lieutenants in the police department, and he thought I’d be a good cop, and he kept poking at me to come do ridealongs,” he said. “...I thought I’d do it for a couple of years and see what I really wanted to do, but I just fell in love with it and stuck with it for a little over 35 years.”
Happer is no stranger to the Jewish community, though the connection has not always been facilitated by happy occasions. His relationships with the community developed over his career, especially after leading the Overland Park Police Department’s response to the 2014 shootings at The J and Village Shalom.
“Since then, I’ve remained close and built some lasting friendships and connections [in the Jewish community],” Happer said. “The chief of police at that time had told me, as I was deputy chief, that we needed to build relationships with the communities, and the Jewish community was one… in Overland Park.”
The community security director role was created by Federation in response to the 2014 shootings, and since then, the Kansas City Jewish community has built an extensive security infrastructure. In addition, with Federation’s formal partnership with SCN, Happer has access to resources such as SCN’s 24/7 intelligence gathering unit and more to enhance the existing systems.
“One of the big things [SCN does] is training, so they offer built training programs for the community,” Happer said. “That’s one of my roles, to present this training.”
There are three core trainings, Happer said – one is “Stop the Bleed,” which teaches how to treat an injured person who is bleeding; one is for situational awareness in public; and one is for countering active threat training. Happer strongly believes in the importance of training and is working on outreach to synagogues and schools to train and advise on security and protection.
“Everybody… is responsible for their own security first, and it’s having that knowledge of what to do in a situation that’s really what I want to [share],” he said. “It’s not only if they’re here, at [the Campus], at their synagogue, or at a Jewish event… These are all things that are just common practices you can use anywhere.”
Those interested in learning more about the community security initiatives or scheduling a training can contact Happer at or (872) 273-9658. Those needing to report a security incident can go to jewishkansascity.org/incident-reporting.
