Lawrence Business Magazine 2015 Q3

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2015 Q3 Publisher: Mark Kern, Lawrence Business Magazine, LLC Editor-in-Chief: Ann Frame Hertzog Designer: Charles Lewer Chief Photographer: Steven Hertzog

IMPACT ISSUE On the Cover left to right: Sheriff Kenneth McGovern Fire Chief Mark Bradford Police Chief Tarik Khatib Photo by Steven Hertzog

Featured Writers: Anne Brockhoff Emily Mulligan Bob Luder Tara Trenary Liz Weslander Editorial Support: Tara Trenary Ad Coordinator: Linda Jalenak Contributing Writers: Megan Brock Janice Early Austin Falley Megan Gilliland Kathleen Morgan Contributing Photographer: Patrick Connor

INQUIRIES & ADVERTISING INFORMATION CONTACT:

info@LawrenceBusinessMagazine.com www.LawrenceBusinessMagazine.com Lawrence Business Magazine, LLC 730 New Hampshire, suite 110 Lawrence, KS 66044 Lawrence Business Magazine, is published quarterly by Lawrence Business Magazine, LLC and is distributed by direct mail to over 3000 businesses in the Lawrence & Douglas County Community. It is also distributed at key retail locations throughout the area and mailed to individual subscribers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reprinted or reproduced without the publisher’s permission. Lawrence Business Magazine, LLC assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Statements and opinions printed in the Lawrence Business Magazine are the those of the author or advertiser and are not necessarily the opinion of Lawrence Business Magazine.

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Conte nts Features:

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First Responder Valor Awards

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Chief Tarik Khatib

Men and Women in Blue

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Police Facilities

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Chief Mark Bradford

Lawrence/Douglas County Fire & Medical

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Sheriff Kenneth McGovern

& the Douglas County Jail

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Chief Ralph Oliver

KU Office of Public Safety

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Eudora & Baldwin City

Police & Fire

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Safety at Our Schools And on the Routes to School

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Downtown in Focus

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Business on the Hill

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City of Lawrence

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Professional Spotlight

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Lawrence Memorial Hospital

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Local Scene

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Lawrence KS 66044

info@KERNgroupinc.com

Lawrence Business Magazine: Telling the stories of people and businesses making a postive impact on Lawrence & Douglas County. /lawrencebusinessmagazine

@LawrenceBizMag

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: LawrenceBusinessMagazine.com/SUBSCRIPTIONS

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DOWNTOWN IN [FOCUS]

Your Public Library - Where There’s Something for Everyone by Kathleen Morgan, Lawrence Library

After a wildly successful summer reading program, Lawrence Public Library is delighted to offer a wonderful line-up of programs for the fall. From storytime on the bus, to Teen Read Week, to a very special evening with author Karen Russell, we have something for everyone at the library. Here are the highlights: All Ages

Friends Fabulous Fall Book Sale! The Friends of the Library are at it again! Stock up on your favorite books, movies, audiobooks and more, priced at $2 or less! Check it out in the Friends garage on the west side of the library. All proceeds benefit your public library. October 1: 5 pm to 7 pm - Members Only Night (Join at the door for just $10!) October 2: 10 am to 6 pm October 3: 10 am to 6 pm October 4: 12 pm to 4 pm Star Wars Reads Day. Don’t miss out on the chance to build your own lightsaber, put yourself into the movies, win a costume contest and a door prize. Join the library and the Lawrence Creates Makerspace for an afternoon of intergalactic fun! October 10 from 2 pm to 4 pm at the Lawrence Creates Makerspace, 512 E Ninth Street.

For Adults

An Evening with Karen Russell. We are delighted that Karen Russell will open the next chapter in the library’s Ross and Marianna Beach Author Series. Russell is the author of “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, “Swamplandia!”, and “Vampires in the Lemon Grove”. Her work is a surrealist mashup that is both funny and haunting. Mark your calendar and plan to join us for a wonderful evening of humor and stories. October 15 at 7:30 pm at Abe & Jake’s Landing, 8 E Sixth Street. Free tickets are available at the library’s Welcome Desk starting October 1. Straight Talk About Kansas Health. What can we do to make healthcare better and more accessible to all Kansans? Former Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger and Kansas Health Information News Editor Jim McLean will lead a spirited discussion during this special Health Spot program. October 25 at 2 pm in the library auditorium. Tech Classes. Sharpen your technology skills in these

weekly classes. Check out the weekly topics at www. lawrencepubliclibrary.org. Thursdays from 4 pm to 5 pm in meeting room B. Tech Drop-In. Need help troubleshooting your technology woes? Bring your gadgets and we’ll help you unlock their mysteries. Tuesdays from 5 pm to 6 pm in meeting room B. New! Genealogy/Local History Drop-Ins. Drop by the library’s local history room and check out the wonderful resources we have for exploring our community’s history or researching your family tree. The SOUND+VISION studio will also be open to provide information on recording oral histories. November 4 and 18 from 4 pm to 5 pm.

For Teens

Teen Read Week: Visit with Sarah Schmitt. Sarah will talk about her book, “It’s a Beautiful Death”, and will lead a writing workshop to help you develop your own characters and plot and get published! October 22, 7pm Q&A session with the author. 7:45 pm writing workshop in the library auditorium. Murder Mystery Party. Sign up for a night of mystery with Murder & Mayhem at the Teen Idol Awards. Will you be able to identify the killer before the night is through? October 30, 7 pm to 9 pm in the Readers’ Theater. Call 785-843-3833 to sign up. Meet Author E.K. Johnston. Here’s your chance to meet young adult author E.K. Johnston. She will visit the library to talk about “A Thousand Nights”, her newest fantasy novel. November 4 at 7 pm in the library auditorium.

For Children

Bus Storytime. The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round at Lawrence Public Library! Join us for this very special storytime. We’ll read stories about riding the bus and then board the “T” and take a ride! October 13 and 16 at 10:30 am in the library auditorium. For ages 3 and up and their families. FIRE DOG. Get ready for a high energy performance from St. Louis’s favorite pop rock band FIRE DOG. They’ll be at Lawrence Public Library to play songs from their new album, “For the Kids.” November 13 at 2:00 pm in the library auditorium. Meet Author Roderick Townley. Kansas Notable Book author Roderick Townley visits Lawrence Public Library to talk about his new book, “A Bitter Magic”. November 16 at 6:30 pm in the library auditorium. For ages 8 and up. p

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BUSINESS on the [HILL] by Austin Falley photos provided by KU Business School

KU School of Business Puts Finishing Touches on Capitol Federal Hall After years of anticipation and planning, the University of Kansas School of Business will move in to its new home — Capitol Federal Hall — in 2016. The four-story, 166,500-square-foot building will be the largest facility at KU to be financed through private support. The $70.5-million facility will host a grand opening in May. “When you walk in the front doors, you’ll be able to feel the energy in the building and get a sense of business being done in real time,” Dean Neeli Bendapudi says. “Each space has been designed with a heavy emphasis on interaction and innovation.” In October, the building will be fully enclosed, allowing the construction-management team to complete its interiors. The structure is built on two wings, north and south, joined by a central atrium. With ample natural lights and views, it will house 18 classrooms, a 350-seat auditorium, 205 offices and labs and spaces for students’ use, with state-of-the-art technology throughout the building. Located on Naismith Drive across from Allen Fieldhouse, the School of Business will form a new southern gateway to the KU campus. “The new school is designed to be a destination point,” says Jim Guthrie, associate dean of academic affairs and co-chair of the building committee. “It honors KU’s rich architectural history while pushing us toward more student-oriented teaching methods. The new building will support our aspirations and our mission of teaching and knowledge creation.” Enhancing the Student Experience Students will have access to a host of conference rooms, team rooms, lounges and spaces in which to study or collaborate on group projects. One of those spaces, located on the first floor off the central atrium, will be a 3,200-square-foot annex featuring workstations, lounge seats and a perimeter counter with stools, similar to a coffee shop setup. “We’ve tried to cater to the needs of students and their different learning styles,” says Kelly Watson Muther, chief of staff and building steering committee member. “The new building will have individual, quiet study spaces, as well as active, engaging spaces that foster collaboration among students and their peers.” Also near the central atrium on the first floor, which will be a high-

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traffic area, will be spaces for student organizations, academic advising, career services and the school’s research centers. “We want students to feel comfortable sticking around, working and socializing,” Guthrie says, “and we don’t want to them feel like they have to disappear after their classes.” The new undergraduate hub includes 12 interview rooms for industry meetings and professional development, and the business school’s current student help area will be expanded to include six breakout rooms for team projects and individual coaching. The school will house an expansive, transparent space for centers in entrepreneurship, international business and business communication, and a number of other research-based centers. During the planning process, the architecture team led benchmarking trips to corporate spaces, incubators and business schools in Dallas, Chicago and Kansas City, among other locations, taking inspiration from Deloitte University, University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and Cerner Corp.’s headquarters. Hired in July 2013, Gensler, a Chicago-based architecture, design and planning firm, served as the project’s design architect, with Gastinger Walker Harden + BeeTriplett Buck (GWH+BTB), of Kansas City, Missouri, as its local architecture partner. Capitol Federal Foundation’s $20-million lead gift is the largest gift ever committed to the School of Business and the largest single gift ever given by Capitol Federal Foundation. The donation is also one of the largest gifts contributed to Far Above: The Campaign for Kansas, a capital campaign led by KU Endowment. p

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Our City Services

Are you satisfied?

The city’s recent satisfaction survey provides insight into resident satisfaction and areas for improvement. The City of Lawrence recently completed its 2015 Citizen Survey, which occurs every four years to assess satisfaction with the quality of city services and to gather input about priorities for the community. This year’s survey was completed in May 2015 and was mailed to a random sample of 2,500 residents. The survey had a 53% response rate and is considered statistically valid. The city uses this data from residents to establish trends over time and to determine measurable and attainable goals for department performance. The survey asked about satisfaction with core city services as well as perceptions of safety, value and quality. The Trends. This is the third citizen survey completed since 2007. The previous survey data allowed the city to develop trends over time in respect to overall satisfaction with city services. A Composite Satisfaction Index (CSI) is derived from ratings given by residents for the major categories of city services. Since 2007, the

by MEGAN GILLILAND Communications Manager, City of Lawrence photos provided by City of Lawrence

City of Lawrence’s CSI has increased eight points, while the average CSI for other cities in the Kansas City metro area and other U.S. cities has decreased by four and three points respectively. This means our citizens continue to have increased satisfaction with overall city services. Public Safety. Public Safety: Police, fire and emergency medical services continue to have strong satisfaction ratings in the community. Ninety-seven percent of residents surveyed said they felt safe walking in their neighborhood during the day, and 77% of respondents were satisfied with how quickly the police department responded to emergencies. The quality of police, fire and EMS (emergency medical services) was also chosen as an area that should receive the most emphasis from the city during the next two years. Fire and EMS: 92% of residents surveyed were satisfied with the professionalism of the city’s EMS personnel, and 91% of residents were satisfied with the overall quality of fire services in the community.

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Parks and Recreation. The city’s parks and recreation systems continued to see high satisfaction from residents, including 92% satisfaction with the cleanliness of the city’s parks, and 84% satisfaction with the quality of recreation programs offered. One area residents felt needed more attention in the next two years was the number of walking and biking trails. Public Works. Infrastructure maintenance and construction continue to be the areas of top concern for our residents. Seventy-one percent of people noted the maintenance of streets and utilities should be an area emphasized by the city. Residents wanted to see more timely street repairs and added attention to the conditions of neighborhood streets. Transportation. Of those surveyed, 50% of residents responded that they were satisfied with the availability of pedestrian pathways, and only 21% of residents felt they were satisfied with the connectivity of bicycle lanes. Traffic congestion and flow of traffic continued to be an area of emphasis noted by residents.

89% of residents said they were satisfied with the city’s trash and yard waste programs

89% of residents said they were satisfied with the police, fire and EMS services provided by the city

According to the 2015 Citizen Survey for the City of Lawrence, residents reported they had used the following city services in the past year: • 93% put out recycling. • 77% used a city recreation facility. • 76% used a walking/biking trail or path. • 76% visited the city library. • 35% enrolled in city recreation programs. • 29% received assistance from the Police Department. • 29% used a bicycle lane. • 19% used public-transportation services. • 14% received assistance from the Fire Medical Department.

82% of residents said they were satisfied with the city’s water and wastewater services

88% of residents said they were satisfied with the city’s parks and recreation system

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What’s Next? Elected leaders and city staff use this data to determine how to best use the city’s resources to address issues our residents consider areas of emphasis and need. In this case, maintenance of infrastructure, flow of traffic and congestion, and the quality of police, fire and EMS were the top three areas noted as areas for improvement in the 2015 Citizen Survey. The city will continue to use the data collected to improve performance measures and develop trends over time for the overall satisfaction of city services. It is interesting to note that there were several significant increases from the 2011 Citizen Survey to the 2015 Citizen Survey, including a 17% increase in satisfaction of the city’s indoor recreation facilities and an 11% increase in availability of drop-off recycling services. These two areas of improvement could be correlated to the city’s completion of Sports Pavilion Lawrence and the completion of curbside recycling in Lawrence in 2014. The entire survey and more information is available online at www. lawrenceks.org/citizen_survey. p

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PROFESSIONAL [ SPOTLIGHT ]

CHARLES BRANSON DISTRICT ATTORNEY What would you say is the DA office’s most important service or duty? One of the most important obligations of our office is transparency. However, the nature of what we do does not lend itself to being open and public about all the processes in the legal system. It is vitally important the public trusts in what our office does and the decisions we make. Competing with that interest is the privacy rights of victims and witnesses, along with constitutional rights of defendants. In deciding to charge a case or not, or resolving a case through plea or trial, we have to balance those interests daily.

What is your top priority? The ultimate goal of our office is to enhance public safety, decrease crime by making offenders accountable for their actions and provide relief to victims and witnesses.

What have been some of the most important aspects of your success? Prosecution through the last several years has slowly evolved from a case-processing system to a problem-solving system. We constantly strive to treat like cases the same while seeking individual results within those cases to achieve meaningful out-

comes. For example, several years ago, we revised how domestic violence cases where handled in the office. We abandoned the “no drop” policies designed to treat every case the same and push every case to a legal conclusion to a problemsolving approach. Each case is now individually reviewed and a determination is made to identify ways to affect the relationship between the abuser and survivor. As problem-solvers, we are trying to identify case outcomes that make it more likely that victim will not need our services in the future by looking at safety issues, counseling and substance-abuse treatment, and other interventions that may make a long-term difference in the relationship.

How many people does the DA’s office employ? How many of those live in Lawrence? And does your office encourage people to live in Lawrence? Our staff consists of 14 attorneys and 16 support staff. In additional to regular staff, we also employ third-year law students who have temporary licenses to practice law through an intern program. Most of our staff members reside in Lawrence or Douglas County. We encourage people to live in Douglas County, but we also recognize that professional staff may have families rooted in nearby committees. We encourage all of our staff to be active participants locally through volunteer work and board memberships.


How do you make a positive impact on the Lawrence community?

What is the biggest challenge you feel Douglas County faces?

Few people realize the scope or impact of our work. Most people think of criminal cases when they think of our office. In fact, with over 1500 criminal cases filed a year, that is the majority of our work. However, we also handle over 100 child-in-need-of-care cases a year, protecting children from abuse and neglect. We file over 300 juvenile-offender cases, where adolescents have found themselves in trouble with the law. We handle thousands of traffic cases from driving under the influence to simple traffic infractions. We also file over 150 care and treatment cases, where those who are in a mental-health crisis or are no longer able to care for themselves, or are a danger to themselves or others are placed in custody for treatment. We also maintain an active consumer-protection division, where our mission is to educate the public about the latest trends in consumer fraud.

Starting in the mid 1990s, the state legislature embarked on defunding and scaling back state support for mental-health and substance-abuse issues. That trend has continued to today. Our community continues to struggle with how to handle people in crisis and those who are suffering from substance-abuse issues. Those struggles often result in criminal conduct placing the offender in a criminal justice system that is not designed to deal with their particular needs. This trend causes an increase in our jail population and often results in extended stays because appropriate placement in the community is difficult, if not impossible. Our office continues to work with various groups to try and determine long-term solutions to these matters.

What do you see as your personal responsibility to the community? My job is to be the community steward of the public’s resources when it comes to the safety and security of our community. Effective management and planning of those resources is vital to the livability of our community.

How do you manage your day-to-day stress of the district? There is no doubt our office sees the worst of society some days. Fortunately, I have wonderful coworkers who realize we are all in this together for the benefit of our community. Most importantly, I am blessed with a wonderful family that enjoys spending time with each other, whether it is a trip to the lake, a sporting event or a school activity.

How do you reward excellent work performance? How do you manage poor performance? I believe in providing year-round, ongoing feedback to our staff and in having an open-door policy with them. If they have a concern, they know they can meet with me at any time. Continuing and ongoing feedback inspire exceptional performance much more so than relying solely on an annual review. The same can be said for managing poor performance. Excellent performance can be rewarded with more challenging assignments. Because our office is publicly centered, excellent performance is often rewarded from outside the office with the satisfaction and relief brought to victims.

Over the course of your career, what has been the single largest change in the Lawrence community? Within the confines of the legal community, I would have to say that the single largest change in our community is the influx of technology. Technology has permeated just about every aspect of the criminal-justice field. Ten years ago, it was a novelty to have a camera mounted in a police car or to have an interview recorded with both video and audio. Now, it is routine to have complete cell phone records of suspects or surveillance video from a crime scene. With the advances in technology and the push for more accountability from law enforcement, this area will continue to grow at an exponential rate.

What do you foresee as being the biggest challenge for your office currently and in the future? On a local level? On a national level? The biggest challenge we face locally and nationally is the human propensity for a rush to judgment when a particular event or crime occurs. I often find myself asked about events in the news and whether I think someone was guilty, or did someone botch an investigation or was there a cover-up. My answer usually shocks people. I tell them, “I don’t know. I was not there, I did not read the investigation and I have not heard all the evidence.” Yet, we see time and again someone analyzing the event within minutes of it happening. Fortunately, in a society full of instant gratification, we have an old-fashioned system called a jury trial where we ask everyday people to come in and clear their mind, and listen carefully to the testimony and evidence presented in the courtroom; then after they have heard all that, the law will allow them to make a decision about what they believed to have happened. Our system is slow and steady, but it gets there, and we must resist the desire to change or criticize it because it is not as fast as we would like. p

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NON- [ PROFIT ]

FIRST RESPONDER

VALOR AWARDS by LIZ WESLANDER photos by PATRICK CONNOR

Friends, family and colleagues of area first responders gathered at the Crown Toyota Pavilion, 3430 Iowa St., on September 11 to celebrate the recipients of this year’s Lawrence-Douglas County Valor Awards. A total of 58 awards were given to 52 honorees from police, fire and medical departments in the Douglas County area. “Our first responders do such a wonderful job that we usually don’t think about them until we have to call on them,” says Michelle Derusseau, chairperson of the Lawrence- Douglas County Valor Awards Board of Directors. “But they are on call every minute of every day. The anniversary of 9/11 serves as a reminder of the risks these men and women take every day for our community, and is an appropriate time to acknowledge their hard work and dedication.” The Lawrence-Douglas County Valor Awards were established in 2011 by cofounders Harry Herington and Tom Kern. The Valor Awards ceremony was not held in 2014 because of transitions occurring within the organization, so the 2015 ceremony included awards for acts of valor that occurred between September 1, 2013, and July 31, 2015. Valor Award Honorees are nominated by their colleagues and are then chosen by a selection committee that includes three members of the Valor Awards Board and nine members of the Douglas County community. The committee also includes three retired public-safety officers who act as advisors to the committee by an-

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swering questions about the details of and risk involved in certain first-responder situations. There are five different types of Valor Awards that recognize various levels of risk and high-stakes decision-making. The highestlevel award, the Gold Valor Award, has never been awarded. This year, Lieutenant Clark Rials, of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Officer Skyler Richardson, of the Lawrence Police Department, and Corporal Kim Springer, of the Baldwin City Police Department, all received the Silver Valor Award, which is the second-highest level of award. Rials earned a Silver Award for his actions during a call on a rainy early morning in June 2014 regarding a possible intoxicated driver driving without headlights on K-10 Highway just east of Lawrence. While Rials was stopped behind the vehicle on the side of the road, the driver drove away and began driving erratically eastbound, still without headlights. Rials pursued the vehicle until it entered the highway median and then began driving eastbound in the westbound lanes of K-10. Rials instructed another deputy to attempt to deploy a tire-deflating device east of the wrong-way driver, but before the deputy could arrive, the vehicle approached the crest of a hill in the westbound lanes. Rials could see the reflection of westbound headlights over the crest of the hill. According to the nomination report: “Lieutenant Rials made a time-crucial decision to legally intervene and perform a Pursuit Immobilization Technique [PIT]. The vehicle was stopped using the technique on his second attempt. During the incident, other traffic, including a tractor-trailer, was able to safely stop. Until Lieutenant Rials intervened, the suspect vehicle could not be seen by the oncoming tractor-trailer. Due to his quick


Silver Valor Award

Awarded in recognition of acts involving great personal risk, although not qualifying for a gold medal, which are clearly above and beyond the call of duty.

Lieutenant Clark Rials Douglas County Sheriff ’s Office

Officer Skyler Richardson Lawrence Kansas Police Department Corporal Kim Springer Baldwin City Police Department

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thinking and appropriate action, Lieutenant Rials was able to successfully end the pursuit without any serious accidents and avoided injury to the suspect driver and innocent motorists.”

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Officer Richardson earned a Silver Award for his actions when responding to a call of reported gunshots heard in a neighborhood in June 2014. The call eventually led Richardson to a residence containing an intoxicated man who was holding a blunt object. The man’s father was also at the home. As the situation unfolded, the son located a shotgun in the home and proceeded to load it. Continued commands to drop the weapon went unheeded, and Officer Richardson told the father to get behind him for protection. According to the Valor Award nomination letter: “When the son began to level the shotgun at the officer and the father, Officer Richardson was forced to fire his weapon at the son, and he immediately collapsed. Almost simultaneously, additional officers began to arrive on scene. The son was transported to the hospital, where he eventually recovered from his wounds. Due to the brave actions of Officer Richardson, neither he nor the father sustained any injuries from that encounter.” Corporal Springer earned a Silver Award for her actions during a call to a structure fire in Baldwin in January 2015. When she arrived on the scene, the back of the home was engulfed in flames, so Springer entered through the front of the house and yelled several times asking if anyone was in the home. Receiving no answer, Springer made her way down the hallway of the home to look in rooms for people. The nomination document reports: “She looked inside the second bedroom and observed a pile of blankets on the bed. She pulled at the blankets, and a resident of the house jumped up and out of the bed. Corporal Springer advised him that the house was on fire, and he needed to exit the home. Corporal Springer, by performing in the face of imminent danger and entering the burning residence, saved the resident’s life.” The Valor Golf Tournament, sponsored by Intrust Bank, is held annually in June at Eagle Bend Golf Course and is the main fundraiser for the Valor Program. Derusseau says the Valor Program board is working on finding more ways to get the community involved in the program in order to raise awareness of first responders’ important work. The Board recently organized a “First-Graders for First Responders” art contest, for which local first-graders designed posters thanking their local first responders for their work. The winning entry was featured on the cover of the awards ceremony program. Valor Awards Selection Committee: Harry Herington, Michelle Derusseau, Doug Gaumer, Doug Barth, Jane Blocher, Kevin Corbett, Greg Gardner, Ernesto Hodison, Larry McElwain, Teri Smith, Steve Splichal, Scott Zaremba Advisors to the Selection Committee: Dan Affalter, Captain (retired), Lawrence Police Department; Steve Hornberger, Undersheriff (retired), Douglas County Sheriff's Office; Allen Johnson, Captain (retired), Lawrence Douglas County Fire-Medical

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VALOR AWARDS RECIPIENTS Bronze Valor Award

Awarded in recognition of acts involving unusual personal risk beyond that which should be expected while performing the usual responsibilities. Bronze medals may also be awarded to those who demonstrate unusual judgment, zeal or ingenuity during an emergency situation when such an act is beyond that normally expected in the performance of duty.

Officer Caleb Lewis Eudora Police Department Sergeant Tom Willis Eudora Police Department

Officer Jonathan Gardner Lawrence Kansas Police Department

Firefighter/AEMT Matt Bahnmaier Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Lieutenant Jared Shinkle Ottawa Fire Department

Firefighter Jim Kearney Kanwaka Township Fire Department Officer Dominique Sloan Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Amaury Collado Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Myra Gillum Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Peter Kerby Lawrence Kansas Police Department

Firefighter Charlie Biggerstaff Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical


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Meritorious Valor Award

Awarded in recognition of acts involving personal risk or demonstrating unusual judgment, zeal or ingenuity not normally expected in the performance of duties.

Detective Jamie Lawson Lawrence Kansas Police Department Lieutenant Randy Cheek Douglas County Sheriff 's Office Sergeant Philip Mathis Douglas County Sheriff 's Office Sergeant Vince Gonzalez Douglas County Sheriff 's Office Master Deputy Robert Berryman Douglas County Sheriff 's Office Deputy Dale Flory Douglas County Sheriff 's Office Deputy Brett LaRue Douglas County Sheriff 's Office Deputy Brad Williams Douglas County Sheriff 's Office

Officer Robert Egidy Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Nathaniel Haig Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Ryan Robinson Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Brad Fry Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Frank McClelland Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Adam Welch Lawrence Kansas Police Department

Firefighter Jesse Smith Kanwaka Township Fire Department Firefighter Seth Yost Kanwaka Township Fire Department


Valor Lifesaving Award Awarded in recognition of acts taken in a life-threatening situation where an individual’s life is in jeopardy.

Corrections Officer Robert Wintle Douglas County Sheriff 's Office

Lieutenant William Hallagin Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Firefighter/AEMT Seamus Albritton Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Captain Brandon Holloman Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Engineer/AEMT Jason Ray Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Firefighter/AEMT Trey Strohm Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Engineer/AEMT Leo Leiker Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Division Chief Justin Temple Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Lieutenant William Hallagin Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Firefighter/AEMT Trey Strohm Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Captain Pat Karlin Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Engineer/AEMT Hank Besack Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Firefighter/Paramedic Daniel Franke Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Firefighter/Paramedic Brian Murdock Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical

Firefighter/AEMT Jennifer Persons Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Division Chief Justin Temple Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical


CPR/AED Lifesaving Award

Officer Brett Horner Lawrence Kansas Police Department Sgt. Mark Unruh Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Adam Welch Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer William Bradford Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Peter Kerby Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Jay Bialek Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Justin Rhoads Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Nathaniel Haig Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Rustin Norton Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Ryan Padilla Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Kyle Owens Lawrence Kansas Police Department Officer Bruce Elliott Baldwin City Police Department

Dispatcher Hannah Cassel Douglas County Emergency Comm.


CHIEF TARIK KHATIB

&

THE MEN AND WOMEN IN BLUE by ANNE BROCKHOFF photosHERTZOG by STEVEN HERTZOG by ANNE BROCKHOFF photos by STEVEN

Like so many other Lawrence residents, Tarik Khatib arrived here as a University of Kansas student more than 25 years ago. And like thousands of other students, he headed downtown in 1988 to help celebrate the Jayhawks’ NCAA Division I men’s basketball championship win. Little did he know that he would someday be chief of the Lawrence Police Department, in charge of law enforcement and public safety at events like that, as well as in everyday life. What started him down that path? “I really fell in love with the community,” says Khatib, who lives here with his wife and two children. “Those things that make Lawrence incredibly hard to police also make it incredibly cool to live here.” The police department serves a growing population of some 90,000 culturally diverse residents, plus a regular influx of students and visitors drawn by KU and Haskell Indian Nations University. The city’s 33-square-mile footprint has some 314 miles of streets, and commercial, residential and recreational developments continue to expand. Lawrence residents are civically engaged, with citizens, neighborhood organizations, business leaders and other groups routinely weighing in on police issues. That’s a good thing, says Khatib, who sees the community as a vital partner in fulfilling the department’s mission. “My experience with the community is that Lawrence has high expectations of its police department,” he says. “Whether that’s to do with event management, interaction with community members, solving cases—all those things. Lawrence wants to have a fullservice police department.”

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Meeting those expectations with what in 2015 is a $17.5-million budget can be challenging. The department needs to add employees, improve technology and build a new facility if it’s to succeed, Khatib explains. “We want to build infrastructure, we want to build amenities; but you don’t have a police structure to protect all that,” he says. The department’s needs are a surprise to some, he says, given that it appears to be doing fine with what it has. Lawrence’s total crime rate fell to 33.8 crimes per 1,000 residents in 2014, from 55.2 in 2009. Violent crime fell to 3.08 per 1,000 from 5.0 in the same period, according to a memorandum addressing the department's operations and strategic plan that Khatib sent to city managers on July 16. Residents are mostly happy, too. The 2015 City of Lawrence Citizen Survey showed 80 percent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with police officers’ professionalism and 77 percent with their response time to emergencies. That can make funding requests for necessary resources a tough sell, Khatib says, but curtailing investment can have disastrous consequences. “If you’re a business owner, and you don’t do your job right, you go out of business,” Khatib says. “If you’re a police department, and you don’t do your job right, you don’t go out of business. You just slowly deteriorate and atrophy over time, and at some point in the future, you really mess up.” That analogy resonates especially now, given the violent protests following last year’s police shooting in Ferguson, Mo. Understanding the relationship that department had with its community is es-


Law enforcement is still about people. It’s still about interacting with the community - Khatib

Police Chief Tarik Khatib

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sential, Khatib says, which is why he made a Justice Department report on its actions required reading for his own employees. “We’re not them, but there are lessons to be learned,” Khatib says. “We don’t ever want to become them.” Tarik Khatib was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and lived there until war broke out in the late 1970s. Khatib was 11 when his family joined his American mother’s family in Lake Forest, Ill., for what they hoped would be only a short time. “The plan was to ride out the hostilities,” he says. “Those that had the wherewithal to get out got out. Unfortunately, those who didn’t had to suffer 20 years of civil war.” Khatib grew up in the North Chicago suburb and then attended KU. He graduated in 1991 with a degree in sociology, an interest in law enforcement and a passion for public service. He considered joining the military but then spotted a recruiting ad for the Lawrence police department. Khatib applied, was accepted and, in June 1992, joined the force as a patrol officer on the late-night shift. “I immediately really enjoyed working with and interacting with the community and the public,” he says. That enjoyment continued through three years on patrol during turns as an officer in narcotics, training and field training, and then as a sergeant on patrol in drug enforcement and the investigative division. Khatib was then promoted to captain on patrol and, eventually, captain of information technology and technical services. When Ron Olin announced his retirement as police chief in 2010, Khatib put his name in for the position. He was chosen as interim chief in September of that year and took over permanently in February 2011. “I like to think I’ve come up through the department,” he says. “It’s important to have an understanding of the inner workings of the department. It helps me make better decisions.”

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In late 2010, the department began a review of its personnel, equipment and facilities needs, and Khatib began figuring out how to meet them. One of his top priorities: improving technology. Since then, the department has coordinated with the Douglas County Emergency Communications Center to install its Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. CAD is more efficient, and it allows for better data collection. That data is expected to greatly improve transparency, particularly when it comes to race and law enforcement, the July 16 memorandum says. An improved web site, dedicated public affairs officer and other information-analysis capabilities also boost transparency, the memo says. The department upgraded its records-management system and replaced radio equipment, while a recent mill levy increase allowed for new in-car video systems, mobile data computers, body armor, tactical equipment, Taser electronic control devices and information technology infrastructure. Perhaps just as critical is the department’s ability to ensure ongoing upkeep and

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maintenance of it all. “What’s new is that we can actually support what we have,” Khatib says. The Lawrence Police Department has also grown in size. It currently has 152 commissioned officers and 33 civilian support staff, including a patrol service dog program. But Khatib says it needs another 30 officers and 10 staff to meet the city’s needs. Many downtown business owners would like additional foot or bicycle patrols, he says, while an increased police presence in areas like the South Iowa corridor could deter shoplifting and property crime. To address some of those needs, the department implemented Data Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS), a program that pinpoints crime hot spots, and restructured its patrol division to better deploy officers during busy times.

Sgt. Max Miller, incident commander for the Band Day parade. Below: Miller with Sheriff Jen Carlson, Sheriff Joey Frost, and Sharon Toulouse, Asst. Dir. of Bands

“If I’ve got someone pulled over for speeding, and the lights are on, that creates a chilling effect on crime,” Khatib says. “Business owners know that and want more activity, but we’re challenged.” Money is part of the issue; the department needs more if it’s going to hire more personnel. But even with funding, attracting the right people isn’t easy. Media portrayals of law-enforcement officers, both fictional and real, have altered potential recruits’ perception of the job, Khatib explains. At the same time, agencies must compete against the legal, medical, business and other professions for top candidates. Unlike those careers, law enforcement comes with odd hours, fiscal uncertainty, stressful working conditions and a degree of personal risk. “It’s a tough sell,” admits Khatib, who recalls that when he joined the force, there had been 600 applicants for four positions. Now, 200 might apply for 10 jobs. “This is not just the Lawrence police department. This is across the nation,” Khatib says. “Those departments that can best attract and best train the best recruits are going to get the best officers, and they’re going to have better outcomes.” While it’s difficult to quantify the economic impact of adding officers, the price of violent crime is clear. Violent crimes impose concrete costs on victims and families, as well as lower property values, spur higher insurance premiums and reduce investment in the communities where they occur, according to a 2012 study by the Center for American Progress, an independent nonpartisan policy institute. Even non-violent crime hits the bottom line. Adding more police is one approach to reducing that, but it’s difficult to financially quantify the benefit.

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“It’s hard to measure that because the cost of the police officer is seen in the city’s budget. Somebody has to find the money,” Khatib says. “The benefit of hiring a police officer is not in the city budget.” Better policing is about more than numbers, though. How a department approaches its task is crucial, too. Khatib’s embraced community policing, which the International Association of Chiefs of Police website DiscoverPolicing.org defines as developing community partnerships, engaging in problem-solving and implementing community policing organizational features. In Lawrence, that means building relationships with citizens, community groups and other agencies over time, and requiring all officers to interact as positively as possible with the public. “There is an expectation of a certain level of interaction with the community,” Khatib says. “We expect officers to exercise a certain level of humility and a servant style of leadership and service.” Departmental training addresses not only the skills needed while responding to calls and investigating crimes, but also how to increase non-confrontational interactions with the public. That might be at any of the 60 or so parades, game days and other events (including NCAA tournament celebrations) throughout the year.

Chief Khatib in the community, reading at the Library and handing out stickers to young citizens.

Or, it could be participating in neighborhood meetings and picnics, visiting schools, making presentations and meeting with minority populations. Officers also support programs like a police camp for kids, Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence Birthday Beat and Blue Santa, and serve on dozens of boards including Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Douglas County, Just Foods and Willow Domestic Violence Center. The idea is to be proactive in solving problems of concern to the community, including those surrounding the issue of race. The department’s newly renamed Citizen Advisory Board for Fair and Impartial Policing advises it on racial and other bias-based policing issues, and dealing with those biases is an integral part of its training programs. Such training ensures “to the best extent possible (officers) are conscious of their biases and making sure they don’t use their biases in the way they go about doing their duties,” Khatib says. Employees also receive mental-health training through a program developed with the help of the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. And a new program created by the Douglas County Crisis Intervention Training Council, together with Baldwin, Eudora, Douglas County and other agencies, will soon begin. Other efforts focused on leadership, crisis response, diversity, fair and impartial policing, as well as peer support and stress management, further improve readiness. Still, one challenge overshadows all of these efforts: the need for a new facility. “Part of recruitment, training, retention—all those things we talk about —is having adequate facilities,” says Khatib, who be-

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lieves what the department now has is wholly inadequate. The department now operates out of six locations: the Law Enforcement Center on 11th Street; the Investigations and Training Center on Bob Billings Parkway; Animal and Parking Control near 9th and New Hampshire streets; a Morton block building on east 15th Street that’s used for property storage; a facility on Stone Barn Terrace where response vehicles are housed; and the Douglas County Public Works Shop on east 23rd Street, which includes property and evidence storage. That adds up to 37,489 square feet, or less than half of what the department needs to function efficiently, according to a Lawrence Police Department PowerPoint presentation on facilities needs. And all of it suffers from safety, structural, security, accessibility and space limitations. “We need a facility that fits our department now,” says Khatib, who says a facility could cost $25 million to $30 million. As focused as Khatib is on facility, training, technology and other structural issues, though, he’s never lost his enthusiasm for public service or his love for the job. Despite all the changes during the years, he says, the core appeal remains. “Law enforcement is still about people. It’s still about interacting with the community,” Khatib says. “It’s still about customer service and investigative curiosity as a police officer. Those things are the same.” p

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WHAT ABOUT THE POLICE FACILITIES? by EMILY MULLIGAN photos by STEVEN HERTZOG

Lawrence’s 158 police officers are protecting and serving the city, and making the best use of their facilities. With the growth of the city – and, unfortunately, with it, the growth of crime – police have gradually taken over more varied spaces throughout town over time. Police facilities have been a hot topic of discussion in Lawrence the past year. Last November, a proposed tax increase to fund a new $20-million police headquarters, which would have been located on McDonald Drive, failed to pass a public vote. So, for the foreseeable future, the Lawrence Police Department will continue to operate as it has for almost 20 years: from multiple facilities. There are six different city and county locations that the Lawrence Police Department uses for staff, storage and parking. The two main buildings where the public can interact with police are the Law Enforcement Center (LEC), 111 E. 11th St., and the Investigations and Training Center (ITC), 4820 Bob Billings Parkway. The other locations are used for animal control, parking control, evidence storage, found property storage and vehicle parking.

Law Enforcement Center (LEC)

The LEC was built in 1975, nearly 40 years ago, at a cost of $3.5 million; it replaced the police department’s former home at 8th and Kentucky streets (now Fire Station No. 1). It was designed to bring together all of the law-enforcement entities at the time under one roof: police, sheriff, jail, district attorney, district court and municipal court. Interestingly, the 2014 failed vote for a new police headquarters was an echo of a failed bond issue in 1969 for the same. The initial $6-million price tag was reduced, and voters approved the lesscostly alternative. The plan to house all of the law-enforcement entities efficiently in

the LEC lasted almost 25 years, until the Municipal Court moved in 1998, and the Douglas County Correctional Facility was built in 1999. Today, the Lawrence Police Department occupies about 7,000 square feet in the LEC. Its Patrol Division, Information Services Division, Evidence Division and Property Division are located there – 117 employees altogether. The Police Department shares a floor with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. There is a service window where the public can engage with the police for administrative tasks, and there is a rather small open lobby space, shared with the Sheriff’s Office, where people can meet with an officer to report or discuss a case. The non-public police space is a rectangle of plain corridors and offices, and does not have the buzz of activity or urgency normally associated with police activity. Instead, there are carpeted hallways and several pockets of offices, plus the patrol officers’ locker rooms, an exercise room with weights and two rooms of desks with computers, one for patrol officers to file their reports and one for patrol sergeants. A few interview rooms for victims, suspects and witnesses are located within the space, as well, although access to them requires crossing through what Police Chief Tarik Khatib calls “the guts of the department.” Officers have a squad room with tables and chairs for about 30 people, where they can be briefed by their superiors or hear presentations. There is a small break room with coffee machines and a refrigerator, with seating for eight to 10 people. The Evidence Division probably has the most creative use of space in the building. Housed in what was formerly the gym when the jail was in the LEC, pieces of evidence are catalogued on multiple “floors” of scaffolding and shelving that take advantage of the space’s high ceilings. Every bit of the room’s space is taken up with storage: Some evidence rests mere inches from the building’s ductwork.

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However, Khatib says much of the catalogued evidence is moving out of the LEC. A structural engineer inspected the LEC, and particularly the Evidence Division’s ad-hoc storage method, and says the evidence’s physical weight is a strain on the floor and the building. That evidence will now be stored in the ITC. The outside of the LEC is another shared space – shared with everyone and anyone who works in or needs access to the LEC. Police use the same public parking lot to the south of the building as the other occupants of the LEC. That means police often must park their police car in a parking spot right next to a member of the public. “There is no secure covered parking for police vehicles,” Khatib says. “On a court day, often you’re parking in the neighborhood. Secure parking is to protect an asset the taxpayer is paying for. It is a $30,000 car with $30,000 of equipment in it. Because the parking isn’t secure, we can’t keep all of the equipment in it; we have to take out equipment when we leave the car.”

The ITC is typically where the Police Department convenes impromptu operations in a crisis or for special events, such as Final Four celebrations downtown, although there is not usually adequate parking. For the 2012 Final Four celebration downtown, for example, the police department cordoned off the top of the parking garage at 9th and New Hampshire streets to accommodate and secure both Lawrence and out-of-town police vehicles. Although the ITC is much more spacious than the department’s location in the LEC, because it was never wholly renovated to be a police station, it does not and cannot

Captain Paul Fellers, 26-year police veteran, says the lack of parking security presents other concerns for patrol officers. “We have had people approaching officers in the parking lot, threatening them and taking pictures of them and their personal cars,” Fellers says. There is not a dedicated loading dock at the LEC. The Sheriff’s Office has a sally port with space for parking one van and one car. The Lawrence Police Department can borrow space if it needs to process an entire vehicle as evidence, but the interior space cannot be used to park patrol cars or even install IT (information technology) equipment in vehicles – that must be done outside. Sharing a facility with the other law-enforcement entities is still part of the plan for the next police headquarters proposal – and Khatib says there will be another proposal. It will definitely include more space for all involved. “I’d argue that they didn’t quite make it big enough to begin with. The one thing you cannot screw up is enough space,” Khatib says. “The LEC is landlocked; you can’t spread it out.”

Investigations and Training Center (ITC)

The Lawrence Police Department bought what is now the ITC in 2000 for $2 million and moved into half of the space, after much discussion of building a complete police headquarters was dismissed, Khatib says. Initially, the other half of the building was occupied by a private business, Oread Laboratories; but the business closed, and the police department has since taken over the building’s 30,000 square feet. The police department’s original half of the building is the only part that has been renovated and fitted for police and security purposes; the structure and setup of the other half remains mostly as Oread left it. The ITC houses the Police Department’s Administration, Investigations and Communications Services divisions. It is not open to the public around the clock; instead, it has business hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. There is no public parking; the adjacent lot accommodates staff vehicles and patrol vehicles. Inside, there is lobby space that resembles a doctor’s waiting room, where the public or those involved with a case can wait to speak with an investigating officer. Along with offices, cubicles, locker rooms and interview rooms for the Police Department’s detectives and drug-enforcement officers, the ITC houses training space for new and current officers. There is not enough space in the ITC for an entire class of incoming officers to complete training – the Police Department often borrows space from a local business – but the space is used for training components, ongoing training and briefings.

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fully function as such on its own. “We had a midnight shooting with people taken to the hospital. We had suspects and multiple witnesses, so we had some in the ITC and some at the LEC, because we didn’t want all of those people congregating, and we couldn’t keep them separated in the ITC,” Fellers says. “Another time, we had a shooting of a Topeka police officer, and we had 40 to 50 people working on the case. Our command post was on the hoods of some cars in the ITC parking lot.” The ITC has an evidence-processing area for the detectives and evidence storage, as well as a room stacked full of old paper records and an open room with clothing racks full of extra uniforms. Khatib appreciates the additional space the ITC offers the department, but there are many reasons, not the least of which is the 15-minute drive between the LEC and ITC, for which it would be better to have the whole department’s offices under one roof. “With the detectives and the patrol separated, we lose that combined sense of purpose. Even in the communication age, there is only so much you can do with email,” he says.

“We can’t keep equipment inside the armored car, so we have to stock it each time,” Khatib says. The Homeland Security Rescue Vehicle occupies one of the spots closest to the door. “We have Homeland Security assets entrusted to us,” police spokesman Sergeant Trent McKinley explains. “If anyone in a 14-county area needs it, we have to send it.” Khatib says he wished the department could make better use of the motorcycles, because they are handy in certain situations. But sending officers out to drive and park, and then having to move the other vehicles out of the way so they can bring out a motorcycle, is not the most efficient use of time.

County Maintenance Facility

For now, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office allows the Lawrence Police Department to store evidence in a two-story pole barn in the county’s road maintenance facility, just east of Haskell University, south of 23rd Street. Wood shelves in the barn, which has no heat or air-conditioning, hold the catalogued evidence items, which are usually selected to be housed there because they are not items detectives or courts need regular access to, and because they can withstand the temperature shifts without being compromised. The Sheriff’s Office is getting ready to move out of that building and, Khatib explains, will permit the police department to store its evidence in the new location.

Stonebarn Terrace Building

The historic building at 2819 Stonebarn Terrace was the Lawrence Fire Medical Department’s Fire Station No. 4 until 2006. The Lawrence Police Department uses the building’s garage portion to house vehicles; the remainder of the building’s open space and former firefighter dormitory sits empty. Vehicles parked in the single-entry garage are specialty vehicles used in certain emergencies: a forensics vehicle, crisis-response vehicle, armored vehicle, accident-reconstruction vehicle and police motorcycles. They are all lined up facing the garage door; in order to access the vehicles farthest from the door, the other vehicles have to be moved out of the way. The building is not as secure as the Police Department would like it to be.

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Morton Building

The former Morton Block building, constructed with concrete blocks that used to be built inside of it and a metal roof, at 900 E. 15th St., is used to store the police department’s found property. Because of conditions inside the building, it is limited to only certain types of found property: mostly bicycles. The building is not watertight, and there is often water on its concrete floor, McKinley says. So even the bicycles are susceptible to accumulating mold over time. The department previously stored cars there, but they grew mold on the upholstery. Khatib says the Police Department tried to convert the building, which now has a playground across the small parking lot next to Burroughs Creek, into a 30,000-square-foot police building in 2002. However, neighbors objected to the building’s proximity to their homes.


“Now, there’s nothing you can do with this building but bulldoze it,” Khatib says.

Parking Garage

Animal Control and Parking Control work out of a small office built into the east side of the city parking garage at 9th and New Hampshire streets. There are designated parking spots inside the garage for the Animal Control vehicles.

Fraternal Order of Police Shooting Range

The city does not own a facility capable of housing a shooting and target-practice range for the police department. So, the department has set up a range in the Fraternal Order of Police building, located at Lone Star Lake. Arms and weapons-related equipment are stored at the LEC, so officers must retrieve those items and then drive the approximately 30 minutes to the Fraternal Order of Police building. Shooting and target practice can only be done during the day, because neighbors at Lone Star Lake complained about the noise from it at night.

The Need for a Headquarters

Khatib cites dozens of practical reasons for a new police headquarters facility in Lawrence, including response-time challenges; lack of parking; lack of security for officers, crime victims and witnesses; and the dearth of space for future growth. But he says there are other intangible reasons that are just as important, such as recruitment and morale. “It would be nice to think we could stay downtown, but there is just no practical place,” Khatib says. “Sometimes, there are only bad options, and we have to pick the best bad option. It would be ideal to build a new facility, but the less bad option would be an existing building.” He acknowledges the failed 2014 police headquarters vote was tied up with other city politics about previous tax increases for new facilities, such as the Lawrence Public Library and the Sports Pavilion at Rock Chalk Park. He understands people do not like to pay more taxes, yet there just is not a way to renovate or repair the current facilities to accommodate the entire department under one roof. “Even if we fixed everything, it’s still too small, still laid out improperly. You don’t really change anything. It’s like if you take a 1985 car, put on a new paint job, and fix the window seals, it’s still a 1985 car, and it’s not reliable,” he says. In spite of the facilities challenges, Khatib is confident, and police research bears out, that the public thinks the police are performing adequately. “I think generally we do a really good job. If you’re doing a good job, people don’t see why you need more resources,” he says. “Building a police facility is about as exciting as buying a water heater and fixing a cracked foundation in a house – but it has to be done.”p

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CHIEF MARK BRADFORD

&

LAWRENCE/DOUGLAS COUNTY FIRE & MEDICAL by BOB LUDER photos by STEVEN HERTZOG

A painting on a wall of his office at Station 5, on the corner of 19th and Iowa streets, goes a long way in telling the story of Mark Bradford. It’s a portrait of a young, wide-eyed boy, a broad smile across his face and an oversized fireman’s helmet resting atop a mop of blond hair. Surely, Bradford, chief of the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical department, looks at that painting every morning he comes to work and sees himself. Most boys in their early, grade-school years dream of one day becoming a fireman, riding on the big red truck and sounding the siren. For a majority of those boys, life’s experiences and curveballs cause a change of mind and offer a different direction during adolescence or young adulthood. Bradford, who turned 56 on August 16, never wavered from his boyhood dream. From his formative years growing up in Lee’s Summit, Mo., a time when he wanted to sound the siren on the big red truck to today, putting on the fireman’s helmet brings a smile to his face. “A real good friend of our family’s while I was growing up was the fire chief in Lee’s Summit; I was always playing with kids whose dad was the fire chief,” he says. “Then, in my teenage years, I was in the Boy Scouts. I was part of their Explorer program, and the Lee’s Summit Fire Department had an Explorer program. “I started with the (Lee’s Summit) fire department right out of high

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school, and all my higher education was completed while working full-time,” he continued. That education included an undergraduate degree in business from Sterling College (“A friend from church recruited me,” he says) and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Kansas. Bradford went on to serve 23 years with the Lee’s Summit Fire Department. Because that department was one of the first in the area to include ambulance transports, he quickly immersed himself in that discipline in addition to firefighting, becoming a fully licensed paramedic in 1980. “Ambulance service is a great blend with fire service,” Bradford says, a foreshadowing of the department he’d later mold in Lawrence. In fact, Bradford served with the International Association of Fire Chiefs and eventually became that organization’s EMS (emergency medical services) program manager. It was his involvement with that association and through other various career-development gatherings that Bradford met Jim McSwain, the longtime chief of the Lawrence fire department. The two forged a close working relationship, and when McSwain began thinking about retirement and who he wanted as his successor, he reached out to his friend and colleague in Lee’s Summit, about 40 miles east of the city. “Chief McSwain contacted me and asked me to come over and be deputy, and become chief when he retired,” Bradford says.


“

everyone must be trained in EMT (emergency medical technology) or be a paramedic. Having some sort of medical background is a necessity. - BRADFORD

�

Chief Mark Bradford

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Above: Gabe Reazin exploring at Station #4 Right: Retired Firefighter, Sam Brubaker talking with shift commander Doug Green So he joined Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical as a deputy in February 2001. When McSwain retired at the end of summer in 2005, he stepped into the role of interim chief. He was officially named chief of the department on Nov. 7, 2005. In the 10 years since, one station, Station 5, was built at the corner of 19th and Iowa streets, on land that once housed the Tau Kappa Epsilon house, which ironically burned to the ground several years earlier. That new facility, completed in 2006, not only houses a station but also the department’s administrative offices. It’s an impressive structure that proudly displays out front an old fire bell from a station in Troy, N.Y., circa 1872. In the main lobby are seven glass encasements that display antique fire gear, from old horse harnesses to axes, helmets, tools and water tanks. Also in 2006, Station 4 was moved to the north side of Clinton Parkway, on Wakarusa Drive. During his tenure as Lawrence’s chief, Bradford has overseen significant upgrades to the department, especially in the area of equipment, where he’s spared no expense in ensuring the men and women who work under him are afforded the safest working conditions. “He’s done really good things for our station,” says Jim Saladin, captain of Y Shift at Station 5. “He’s great with protection issues. He’s going to buy the best gear and equipment that we can afford. “Chief Bradford looks at things on a more global scale,” he continues. “By maybe spending a little more on the best equipment, he’s reduced maintenance costs. He’s a well-rounded leader who has

a balanced outlook on the department as both a business and as a government entity. “He’s also a dynamic thinker who thinks on a large scale and does real well with it,” Saladin explains. John Darling, lieutenant on Z Shift at Station 5, says Bradford leads by example, often being the first to arrive at work in the morning and the last to leave. “I’d say my management style is participatory in nature,” Bradford explains. “I take a lot of input from members of staff, or a team’s input, before I make a decision.” A prime example of this, he says, is in the design of the fire apparatus on various trucks within the department. Members of the operations teams are selected to make recommendations on the design. “I believe it is extremely important for individuals who work on the trucks to have input on how the trucks are constructed,” he says. Bradford manages a department with six stations five in Lawrence and an ambulance station in Baldwin City. There are 139 uniformed members, and during any one shift, 36 to 40 are on duty, with about seven to eight per station. Most stations have one fire truck with four personnel on it and one ambulance with two. Station 5 also has a heavy rescue truck that carries three personnel. There are eight department chiefs and 48 certified paramedics within the Lawrence department. Each station rotates three shifts, each of which works on what’s

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Capt. Ben Dennis talking with Skilynn Ball

known as the Berkeley System - work 24 hours, off 24, work 24, off 24, work 24, off for four. And, for those who think firemen spend their time taking naps instead of out on calls, think again. Their days are fully scheduled from the time they arrive at their respective stations at 7 a.m. “The first thing they do is check their personal equipment and perform truck checks,” Bradford says. “From 8 a.m. to noon, there’s training, or there could be an outside lecture or some kind of interactive activity in the community. I also take that time to communicate with each station. “From 1 to 4:30 or 5:30, there’s public education, inspections, equipment maintenance, public events. There’s an hour for physical fitness. People don’t realize the leading killer of firefighters is a cardiovascular event. At 6 is dinner followed by downtime.” During a recent hot summer afternoon, firefighters from Station 5, Z Shift, drove a half-mile to Naismith Hall on the University of Kansas campus, practiced repelling down a wall off the roof of the building and later simulated several high-elevation rescue scenarios. Department personnel catch sleep at night when they can, but that’s often interrupted by calls. Also, any of those daily duties set aside to go on calls during the day have to be completed when firefighters return, so often those tasks are being completed well into the evening. As it says in the name Fire Medical, the relatively new look of the department has those two disciplines completely integrated. “When I first got on the job in 1995, it was just fire,” says Richard


Mike Agrisano showing CPR techniques to Caleb, Zeke and Nate Reazin

Firefighter Jennifer Persons showing Kayden Self how to work a fire hose.

Bull, driver/engineer of the fire truck for Y Shift at Station 5. “In ’98, we merged with the county ambulance service. We were probably one of the first in the country to get on that. It’s pretty progressive.”

room (ER) vital signs, patient condition, presenting complaint and anticipated needs. The charge nurse in the ER uses this information to ascertain and order needed resources.

Bradford says 80 percent of the calls that come into the department are of an EMS nature.

When a patient enters the ER and is put into a room, nurses receive a verbal report, and EMTs answer any questions for attending physicians.

“We don’t distinguish between (medical and fire),” he explains. “It’s all-inclusive.” Eve Tolefree, division chief of EMS for the department, says, “When we hire, everyone must be trained in EMT (emergency medical technology) or be a paramedic. Having some sort of medical background is a necessity. Then, we’ll train you in fire.” Tolefree, who’s been with the department for 31 years, says the department’s EMS services often are a last resource for people in need in the community. “Many times people lack insurance,” Tolefree explains. “They call us out of desperation. Our elderly population is increasing. We’ve had a significant rise in number of responses at assisted-care facilities.” Tolefree says call volume has doubled since she started in 1984. “We still try to do as much prehospital care before transport,” she says. “And, we do more transport.” While transport destinations typically are determined by the patient if he or she is conscious and lucid Tolefree says 90 percent of calls are transported to the emergency room at Lawrence Memorial Hospital (LMH). When a patient is transported to LMH via EMS, a basic report is communicated by radio to the emergency

“The goal is seamless communication,” explains Dr. Caleb Trent, LMH emergency physician and medical director for LawrenceDouglas County Fire Medical. “The men and women of LDC Fire Medical do a very good job,” Dr. Trent says. “They often are called to make instantaneous decisions, often in a chaotic and emotionally stressful situation. They have to act in the patient’s best interest while acknowledging desires of family members, practicing medicine, managing the scene and following the laws of the state. This is a difficult job to do correctly 100 percent of the time, and I’m proud of the way our medics manage and truly care for our patients.” The department’s tasks and responsibilities don’t stop at fire and EMS. They also include, but are not limited to, prevention, handling and disposing of hazardous materials, water rescue, rope rescue, tight-quarters rescue and business inspections. The department also provides ambulance services by contract to the entirety of Douglas County. But, it’s still structure fires that get a firefighter’s blood pumping and adrenaline flowing. Every firefighter on site is faced with an intense flurry of tasks and action, from establishing water supply, to breaking in and searching the premises, to establishing primary and secondary water attack lines. Ladders are positioned at windows on every level of the structure.

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“Basically, it’s like juggling chain saws,” Station 5’s Darling says. “You’re always doing tasks while thinking about what’s coming next.” As chief, the rare situations when firefighters die or are injured on the job, or the near misses always stick with Bradford. By nature of the job, the boundary gets pushed on a regular basis. “There are a number of times where you’re thankful things turned out the way they did,” he says. “It’s what we’re here to do. We’re not trained to exchange lives. But we’re always pushing the envelope.” Bradford says he’s had little turnover in his workforce over the years. The men and women who work under him serving the public good become extended family, and once in that family, you don’t leave until it’s time to retire. He worries a little about the generations of those coming up, however. More and more, he explains, he sees young men and women get into the profession for themselves and not for the long-term. In the end, it’s still Bradford’s department, his family of firefighters and EMTs, and the work he loves in a community he loves. He’s still that kid with the big fireman’s helmet resting atop his head, a smile as broad as a rainbow across his face, wanting to ride the big red truck and sound the siren. “This line of work has always intrigued me,” he says. “It’s been good to me so far.” p

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EMT working at Memorial Stadium: Dillon Brown and Brian MurdockBelow: Dave Sherman and Talib Muwwakkil


Chief Bradford in the community, talking with young citizens above and reading at the Library

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We tell the staff that you should try to make a difference in whatever you do, whether it’s chasing bad guys or anything else, but it’s also how you help people throughout the community. -McGovern

Sheriff Kenneth McGovern


SHERIFF KENNETH McGOVERN

&

THE SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT & THE DOUGLAS COUNTY JAIL by EMILY MULLIGAN photos by STEVEN HERTZOG

Behind the badges and patrol cars, Sheriff Kenneth McGovern oversees a department of 164 deputies, corrections officers, court security officers, investigators and even IT specialists who serve Douglas County. McGovern would be the first to say the machinations of the Sheriff’s Office are much more than a uniform or a badge. He is in his third term as sheriff – having been elected in 2004, 2008 and 2012 – and his 34th year working for the Sheriff’s Office. For reasons both personal and professional, McGovern holds Douglas County communities in high regard and works to ensure that the Sheriff’s Office staff does the same. “We tell the staff that you should try to make a difference in whatever you do, whether it’s chasing bad guys or anything else, but it’s also how you help people throughout the community,” McGovern says. “We’re part of this community and here to make this a good place to live.” Paul Taylor is a local pastor and chaplain who works with the Sheriff’s Office staff. He has known McGovern since Taylor was a paramedic and McGovern was a patrol officer. “He adopts a holistic approach to the improvement of the department,” Taylor says of McGovern. “He believes that if he is taking care of his people and serving his people well, then his people will serve Douglas County best. He is there to serve and not to be served.” In 1982, McGovern was working for a cabinet company that went out of business. He needed a steady income because he

had a family, so he went to work as a corrections officer for Sheriff Rex Johnson, whom he had known for several years. From there, he transitioned to the patrol side of the Sheriff’s Office and rose in the ranks to become a road sergeant, lieutenant, captain and then undersheriff. “I told myself the day I quit having fun and didn’t like it, I’d quit. That hasn’t happened,” McGovern says. The Sheriff’s Office has two main administrative areas, each overseen by an undersheriff: the Operations Division and the Corrections Division. The Operations Division includes 25 patrol officers, who are responsible for patrolling the unincorporated areas of Douglas County. They also serve to augment the municipal police forces of Lawrence, Eudora and Baldwin City, as well as the University of Kansas police, when the need arises. In the summer months, Douglas County Sheriff’s patrol also covers Clinton Lake and Lone Star Lake through contracts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Douglas County Public Works. Civil Process is another part of the Operations Division, and its staff serves civil court documents to people, including summons, subpoenas, garnishments, court orders and notices to appear, on behalf of the District Court, Magistrate Court, Probate Court and Juvenile Court. The Operations Division also provides security for the courts, in the courtrooms and at the Douglas County Courthouse and Law Enforcement Center. Detectives, drug-enforcement officers, staff that tracks warrants, training officers, IT (information technology) staff and the Douglas

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Sheriff Department Citizen’s Academy, Dive Team Demonstration County Underwater Search and Recovery Team also are part of the Operations Division. The Corrections Division is responsible for the Douglas County Correctional Facility and its inmates. Employees include those who supervise inmates, do booking and intake, transport inmates, prepare inmates for reentry to the community and perform other administrative functions. With all of these different operations of the Sheriff’s Office, McGovern’s lengthy career experience in Douglas County prior to his election has provided him with a base of knowledge that he draws on every day with his staff and local citizens. “In law enforcement, we wear many hats. You have to know when to put the right hat on and go forward,” he says. Although he consulted his wife, Beckie, and three children at the time, McGovern says the decision to run for sheriff was not a particularly difficult one. “I was asking myself, ‘How do I help make a difference? I can help somebody else make that change, or I can use what I have to take it down the road.’ As the old saying goes, you want to leave it better than you found it. Sheriffs Johnson and Trapp did well. I wanted to help make a difference with the Sheriff’s Office,” he says. McGovern explains he embraces the sheriff’s public role in the community, especially when he is out and about. “In town, growing up, I got to know many people and met their parents. It still has a small-town feel, but as sheriff, more people know who you are,” he says. “I don’t mind it, but some people joke, ‘I can’t go anywhere with you, because you are going to stop and talk to 10 people.’ To me, I like that.” The sheriff has had several major undertakings in his time in office, not the least of which has been technology. Since he took office in 2004, technology has changed so much that “in five minutes, you’re out of date,” McGovern says. He has updated the communications center and outfitted patrol officers with mobile data terminals, in addi-

tion to working to keep his staff one step ahead of criminals and their technology. The Corrections Facility has added new programs, including a reentry program for inmates, working to prepare them to return successfully to the community by addressing many aspects of life. Collaborating with other local police forces and the Kansas Highway Patrol has been a priority for McGovern, not just in coordinating technology but also in overall communications and establishing processes for helping one another. He says it has been important to him to focus on staff development and enhancement. He is proud to have so many long-serving staff members. “They enjoy working here and want to continue to be here,” McGovern says. Taylor says the Sheriff’s Office employees have a true sense of pride and purpose about their work. “His employees view their job as not just a job to do but a family. They enjoy the work they do because of the atmosphere,” he says. “The sheriff is the one who has established and maintained the positive atmosphere.” McGovern says he is proud of his creation of the annual Sheriff’s Office Citizen’s Academy, which meets in August and September every year for seven weekly meetings and two full Saturdays. The idea behind the Citizen’s Academy is to build awareness of what all the Sheriff’s Office does and to give community members an opportunity for hands-on instruction. Participants in the Citizen’s Academy tour the facilities and learn about car-stop techniques, field sobriety testing, building searches, serving civil papers, running the jail and many other aspects of the Office’s work. They even get to try their hand at takedowns and other physical activities. “I think they come away with their eyes opened,” McGovern says.

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DOUGLAS COUNTY JAIL The Douglas County Correctional Facility opened at its current location in eastern Lawrence in 1999. In 2011, Sheriff McGovern oversaw a renovation and expansion of the jail. The facility expanded from 50 beds to 186 beds and reconfigured from a “linear” setup that had rows of hallways and cells, similar to rooms in a traditional hospital corridor, to a “pod” configuration. Pods are groupings of cells that allow for direct supervision, meaning corrections officers are in the middle of the cell groups so that they can see, hear and be physically proximate to inmates at all times. The new design is not only more functional and efficient for the staff, but it also allows for more and better resources for the inmates, including its library, which has an active volunteer force. The jail also offers medical cells, addiction-recovery meetings, GED (general education development) preparation, life-skills workshops, employment-skills instruction and religious programs. “We’ve had numerous agencies come in to look at our design and philosophy. We think it’s a pretty wellrun facility, and the staff takes pride in the way it looks and runs,” McGovern says. Taylor credits McGovern with providing a positive approach that the corrections facility staff emulates. “There is a commitment to always treat people with dignity and respect while they are incarcerated. The philosophy from top to bottom is that these aren’t law breakers and bad people; they’re real people with real values who can turn right around. And we want to help them make changes,” Taylor says.

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Despite 2010 research that it would increase, the average daily population of the jail experienced a decrease after the expansion. In the past couple of years, however, the average daily population has begun an uptick – especially among female inmates, who at times have exceeded the jail’s 28 beds in the female pod. Besides an increase, in general, in female inmates and offenders in Douglas County, McGovern points to one main contributing factor in having more inmates: mental health. The Sheriff’s Office and Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center began a partnership in 2013 both to help address and prevent mental-health issues among inmates. McGovern says that with the closing of state hospitals and other psychiatric hospitals, problems among inmates and offenders became more amplified, and the general conversation about mental health was not as open as it is today. The court systems are also absorbing the impact, he says, and the implications of people not having resources for their mental health affect patrol officers and other aspects of law enforcement daily. “That’s where we are struggling – how do we help? Where can they go to get treatment? This community is fortunate because we have a mental-health provider willing to work with us, Bert Nash,” he says. “We need to figure out how to help folks when they go in and when they leave to make sure there’s a handoff to someone when they leave the jail.” Although the pods are helpful for staff to monitor the inmates consistently for mental-health issues, McGovern emphasizes the facility is not designed for treating mental illness, and that presents some challenges. The Sheriff’s Office and Bert Nash have created ways to help inmates as best they can. The intake process at the jail includes questions to assess inmates’ mental health and responds to those who need assistance accordingly. There is a full-time therapist at the jail and other Bert Nash therapists and interns who are assigned weekly hours for one-on-one therapy and group therapies for anger management, relapse prevention, behavioral therapy and other topics. Because of the increase in the average daily population, especially among female inmates, and the prevalence of mental illness, along with other issues, the Douglas County Commission recently began discussing another expansion of the jail. The commission has undertaken a study, and so far it estimates the expansion cost to be between $20 and $30 million. p

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Ralph Oliver, Chief of Police at the University of Kansas Office of Public Safety, has been doing police work longer than most KU students, and some KU professors, have been alive. A Kansas City, Kan., native, Oliver began his police career in 1977 at the University of Kansas Medical Center, in Kansas City, Mo. He came to the KU Office of Public safety in 1984 as Assistant Chief and was appointed Chief of KU Police in 1997 – the same year that many of this year’s freshman class were likely born. Oliver, naturally, has seen some changes during his tenure with the KU Police Department. Perhaps the most notable is the effect that cell phones and social media have had on the way the department receives and distributes information. When it comes to emergencies, students no longer run to the blue phones scattered throughout campus, they grab their cell phones. When students want information on sirens, alarms or emergency vehicles on campus, they no longer call the KU Police Department for answers, they hop on Twitter or look for an emergency text sent to their phones. “It used to be when a crime occurred, you’d get one or two phone calls,” Oliver says. “Now, when something major happens, everybody dials 911. Although, we are seeing that students will often text each other first in an emergency, before they call 911, and we sure would like them to call us first.” Another important change Oliver has seen over the years is a shift in the public perception of campus cops. “Most people’s impression of campus police depends on when they were in college. If you were attending school pretty much before the ’80s, your perception was that it was just security officers. It’s changed,” Oliver says. “I think that the stigma of the old campus camp, or the mall cop, is slowly starting to wane. People are starting to see us and respect us as fully accredited law-enforcement officers, and that’s very helpful.” While KU police officers possess the same training and authority as municipal officers, working with a population where the majority of the people are between 18 and 25 – a group Oliver says is more inspiring than challenging to work with – makes the job unique. “The population tends to be very inquisitive and responsive,” Oliver says. “It’s a period of time when former high school students transition into young adults, and it’s a very positive thing to see them grow.” One example of students’ responsive nature is the KU Student

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Asst. Chief C.J. Keary and Chief Ralph Oliver


CHIEF RALPH OLIVER

& Most people’s impression of campus police “It’sdepends on when they were in college. changed... People are starting to see us

THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS OFFICE OF PUBLIC SAFETY by LIZ WESLANDER photos by STEVEN HERTZOG

as fully accredited law-enforcement officers, and that’s very helpful. - Oliver

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Senate’s proactive response to the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014. “We had started researching body cameras last year, and we had deployed about eight of them three or four months before Ferguson,” Oliver says. “But after Ferguson, the student body president came to us and asked what Student Senate could do to help us perform our jobs. We told them we would like to have body cameras on all the patrol officers that are out there, so they furnished us with 14 more cameras.” Oliver says the department has always thought body cameras were a good idea. They have had in-car cameras in patrol cars for decades, he says, and body cameras are an extension of this tool. “Body cameras are basically a witness with a very narrow perspective,” Oliver explains. “They allow us to review not only what happened in a particular incident, they also help us to ensure that our policies and procedures are being followed and can help guide training with officers so that we know that our citizenry is being respected and that everything is done properly.” The KU Police Department’s geographical boundaries are small and concentrated – loosely marked by 11th Street to the north, 19th Street to the south, Louisiana Street to the east and Kasold Drive to the west. The department’s responsibilities also extend to university-owned buildings outside of this space, including the University of Kansas Edwards Campus, in Overland Park. In addition to its nearly 30 accredited law-enforcement officers, the KU Police Department also has a team of security officers who help with day-to-day nonemergency security, such as building monitoring and lockups, student escorting and event security. Security officers are also stationed at the Edwards Campus and are responsible for all nonemergency security duties there. The Overland Park Police Department responds to emergency calls at the Edwards Campus. Although some things have changed over the years for campus police, some things remain the same. As far as crime, Oliver says theft – both in housing and academic buildings – is far and away the most common issue on the KU campus. Campus life, he says, naturally lends itself to thefts of opportunity. “In resident halls, students get the sense that this is their home,” Oliver says. They tend to leave doors unlocked and will fall asleep and leave their doors open. In libraries and academic buildings, people will get up and leave their belongings while they go into the stacks or go talk to a friend. This allows for opportunity-type thefts.” In addition to theft, alcohol consumption is also a perennial issue of campus life, and KU is no different, Oliver explains. “Consumption is a big issue for this age group across America,” he says. “It’s a concern because it leaves the people who consume vulnerable to other issues, such as sexual violence and criminal activity.” The KU Office of Public Safety has a team of Community Services officers who address the subject of alcohol and related personalsafety issues through presentations to student groups at fairs and

KU OFFICE OF PUBLIC SAFETY AT A GLANCE Chief – Ralph Oliver Assistant Chief, Police Services – Chris Keary 2 Captains – one over Patrol Services one over Community Services 2 Detectives 22 Patrol Officers 2 Community Services Officers Support Staff: Assistant Director for Civilian Services – Liz Phillips 1 Records Clerk (handles officers’ reports, subpoenas, etc.) 10 Dispatchers (only seven positions filled at the moment, recruiting for three) 20 Security Officers (currently recruiting to fill vacancies) 22 Student Security Officers (currently recruiting to fill a number of vacancies)


events, as well as upon request. One presentation involves a pair of vision-impairment goggles Oliver says gives the person wearing them the effect that they have consumed a certain amount of alcohol. “We put them through a series of dexterity tests. It’s interesting for the person wearing the goggles but also for the people watching,” he explains.

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Like alcohol abuse, sexual assault is a safety concern on college campuses across the country. The issue has been in the spotlight both nationally and at KU during the past year in the wake of increased reports of sexual assault on campuses and complaints about how universities are handling these reports. The KU Police Department is responsible for criminal investigations of sexual assault and stalking on campus, but the Institutional Opportunity and Access (IOA) office at KU also conducts separate investigations of sexual-assault accusations in order to ensure the University is complying with Title IX regulations. “There is our obligation to the university as a police department, and then there is our obligation to the state,” Oliver says. “There are two separate investigations that occur, but there is


PRE GAME RITUAL Sweeping the stadium for safety issues. Right top: Detective Jack Campbell, checking cars Right: State troopers with dog checking equipment Below: Asst Chief Keary and Chief Oliver, oversee pregame checks Right bottom: Bob Newton gets his bag cleared by security Bottom: Officer Chris Schweer directs traffic around the stadium

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cooperation between the two so that we can assist IOA in ensuring that a student is comfortable at this university and in classes, even down to escorting, if they request. It may be a hot topic at the moment, but it has always been an important topic for us.” While KU Police Department officers receive yearly training on handling sexual-assault cases, Oliver says the University administration has taken the lead on educating the staff and student body on the issue.

Officer Jacob Hout is assigned to be with Coach Beatty for game day

In September 2014, KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little organized a task force to examine how the University of Kansas prevents and responds to sexual assaults. After spending eight months reviewing input from the university community and going over current policies, practices and sanctions, the group submitted a report to the chancellor in May 2015. The report included 27 recommendations, including creation of a central campus location where students could report and/or get information about sexual violence; requiring all freshmen – including fraternity members – to live in residence halls; and clarifying in the student code that KU could discipline students for off-campus incidents of sexual violence against other students. In February 2015, Lawrence city commissioners approved a memorandum strengthening the partnership between city police and the University of Kansas in addressing sexual violence. It identifies how the police department and university can better share information, collect crime statistics, release emergency notifications and provide training. Oliver says the KU administration’s support of the KU Police Department and the positive working relationship the department has with other local public-safety offices are invaluable to his department’s success. “We only have 20-some officers, so when we invite 50,000 people to a football game or have a VIP visit like Obama, we are very fortunate that there is no question as to whether or not other departments will support us,” Oliver says. “And it goes both ways. We are very fortunate to have these relationships in this county.” p

PR and communication is part of the job. Above, Capt. James Anguiano chats with visiting Memphis Officer R. Phillips and talking with Sheriff Brad Clover.

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Eudora Police Chief Bill Edwards and Fire Chief Ken Keiter

&BALDWIN CITY

EUDORA

PUBLIC SAFETY, FIRE & POLICE by BOB LUDER photos by STEVEN HERTZOG

Eudora Police Chief Bill Edwards says there are two key parameters he wants each and every officer under his command to strive for each day. First, when an officer leaves a contact made with a citizen, that officer needs to ask himself, “Did I make the situation better for the next officer who has to deal with that citizen?” Second, since police officers often find themselves in situations where they interact with people on edge, he says it’s important officers pull those people back from the edge and not do anything to push them over it. “I think if we practice that, it’s hard to go wrong,” Edwards says. “I think it’s that type of community work that makes a difference.” While there are challenges to consistently accomplishing such goals in a small community with limited resources, Edwards, who’s been chief in Eudora for nearly three years, following a distinguished 33-year career in Kansas City, Kan., says his department comes through time and again by being dedicated, having a strong work ethic and working together. The same can be said of the similarly sized police department

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Chief Greg Neis oversees in Baldwin City. “I wouldn’t say we really have challenges,” says Neis, who’s been on the job since January 2010. “We have a good bunch of people who get the job done and do it right. And, the city has been pretty good to us.” Edwards can say the same of the city of Eudora, population of about 6,400 just six miles east of Lawrence, off of K-10 highway. On July 1, he added the city’s first full-time detective to his ranks, giving him a total of 11 uniformed officers. Creating that detective’s position helps alleviate a lot of the follow-up work on cases by Edwards’ officers, already putting in 12-hour shifts day and night. “It also allows us to have a better picture of the cases we’re working,” Edwards says. “The detective can make contacts, do more interagency work.” Last year, Eudora police officers answered more than 10,000 calls. Edwards says many of those were domestic violence or drug- and alcohol-related calls, which appear to be on the rise every year. Much of the work the city’s police force does involves community


relations – running countless patrols letting the city’s citizens know the police are there to do what their motto says: “To Protect and To Serve.” In addition to three-plus decades in Kansas City, Kan., Edwards served as chief of police in Park City, Kan., a small town just north of Wichita, for six years. He says what makes Eudora unique is the quality of his staff, which includes two sergeants working with eight field officers and a detective. “One of the things that makes me proud is how well these officers get along with each other,” he says. “Being able to provide direct service to the community is what the people here want, and there’s a level of trust that’s been built between our department and the community.” Neis can certainly say the same about his department in Baldwin City, which includes nine full-time and three parttime officers. Like Eudora, the officers divide up 12-hour shifts, ensuring that at least two officers are on duty at any one time. With a population of 4,500, Baldwin City is a bit smaller than its neighbor to the north, but there’s also Baker University, which brings in 950 resident college students each autumn. Neis says that, thus far in 2015, his department has responded to a total of 2,118 calls. “We just make sure people are safe,” he says. “We’re always busy in the fall during the Maple Leaf Festival. Everyone works. There are no vacations. And, we work all weekend.” Neis explains Baldwin City could use a new police station, and there have been discussions about this topic in recent city council meetings. His department has six marked, fully equipped patrol cruisers. There also is a car for the school resource officer at Baldwin City High School, and the chief has a car, the oldest in the fleet, he continues. Eudora, which recently built a new police and fire station, has 11 cars in its fleet. If the police forces in Eudora and Baldwin City are dedicated, the fire departments of these two small towns take it a step further. In fact, both towns have teams of volunteer firefighters, all of which are constantly on call for both fire and emergency medical service (EMS) calls. They work all hours, day and night, for little to no compensation. Eudora Fire Chief Ken Keiter has one part-time deputy chief, one part-time driver for the truck and maintains a staff of 35 volunteers who rotate shifts among eight people. “Most are looking to get a foot in the door in fire service,” Keiter says. “We give them the chance to train and get their certifications.” In fact, a Eudora Fire Academy was created, where aspiring firefighters/emergency medical technicians (EMTs) can train from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays for eight weeks. “One of the issues with a volunteer agency is you never

Baldwin City Fire Chief Allen Craig and Police Chief Greg Neis

know how many volunteers are going to be able to go on a call,” Keiter says. “All of them have full-time jobs elsewhere. But, it’s amazing to me the dedication the volunteers have.” Allen Craig, chief of the fire department in Baldwin City the last 25 years, sees the same dedication within his volunteer force, which has included his sons and even a grandson. He has 19 firefighters on call at all times, he says, but it’s day-to-day, hour-to-hour as far as how many of those volunteers are available at the times needed. “I don’t worry about it,” Craig says. “We always seem to have enough to get the job done.” He explains his department added medical service in 2009, and many of his volunteer firefighters become certified EMTs after they join the ranks. The number of calls for fire or medical emergencies has risen each year, from 115 in 2008 to 513 in 2014, he says. Through mid-August this year, there had been 307 calls. “We’re always looking for volunteers,” Craig says. “Training is often hard to get. If you have a family and full-time job, it’s difficult.” Despite the difficulties, Craig shares with Edwards, Keiter and Neis a great pride in his department and the men and women who serve their towns. “I’ve got a bunch of dedicated people working for me,” he says. “It’s a good group of men and women.” Both Craig and Keiter stress they are always on the lookout for more volunteer firefighters and EMTs, and say anyone interested is encouraged to call or stop by the local fire department to apply. p

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sponders team up. It’s important to save precious time. “We really encourage our community to call 9-1-1,” said Patti Doncouse, RN, BSN, who has been Emergency Department director at LMH for about a year. “If you call 9-1-1, the ambulance will arrive and the paramedics will start treatment, based on the patient’s complaint and their assessment. Then they will radio in and give us a report.”

LMH Emergency Department is community’s lifeline

by Megan Brock, Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Association intern

Emergency Department physicians and nurses at Lawrence Memorial Hospital reach out to the community daily – usually without leaving the hospital campus. And it’s all in an effort to save lives and preserve patients’ quality of life. One of the mantras in the Emergency Department is: time is brain. Minutes matter. Seconds matter. That’s why LMH’s Emergency Department and area emergency re-

This coordinated effort means LMH is better able to prepare for patients arriving by ambulance. The delay in treatment for patients arriving in a private vehicle versus an ambulance may be five to seven minutes. LMH’s Emergency Department records about 37,000 visits annually, with an average of 105 patients seen daily. That’s an increase of about 8,000 visits a year since 2005, before an extensive renovation of the Emergency Department and several other areas at LMH. Kenna Young, clinical nursing manager in the Emergency Department, sees first-hand how the renovation has affected patients and staff. “One goal of the renovation was to improve length of stay,” Young says. “We can take more patients at one time, and we can get to them quicker.” LMH Emergency Department patients’ top five health concerns are abdominal pain, chest pain, extremity pain, cough and headache. A total of 85 percent of those patients are seen, treated and then discharged or admitted into the hospital in less than three hours. Although patients visit the Emergency Department for treatment, it’s also a place for patients to learn about how to prevent and recognize medical conditions early in hopes of avoiding emergencies. “The emergency department at LMH is patient-centered,” Doncouse says. “All of the decisions we make put the patient first.”

Don’t use Emergency Department for convenience by Janice Early, Lawrence Memorial Hospital Vice President of Marketing and Communications

Dr. James Herrin, a board-certified emergency physician at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, says many emergency visits are not for life-threatening illnesses or injuries but for minor medical problems that could be handled more cost effectively in a doctor’s office. “The emergency department is your community’s lifeline,” says Dr. Herrin. “Use it prudently – for true emergencies rather than convenience.” A report presented last year to the LMH Board of Trustees showed that nearly one-third of the visits to the LMH Emergency Department probably didn’t require emergency treatment. Most of these visits were for minor medical problems that could be handled more cost effectively in a doctor’s office or urgent care setting. Hospital emergency departments are set up to focus on severe and life-threatening medical emergencies, not routine health care problems. They have specially trained doctors, nurses, paramedics and other support staff who can recognize, diagnose and treat a wide variety of medical issues and they have the medical technology and equipment at hand. Emergency treatment costs significantly more than a doctor visit; an emergency visit for an earache will likely cost hundreds of dollars more than it would at your doctor’s office or walk-in clinic, and you will likely spend a lot more time plus receive care from a doctor who

has probably never before seen you. It’s always best to get as much of your care as you can from a health care provider who knows and understands you. Dr. Herrin advises that if you have questions about whether a problem requires emergency treatment, first call your primary care provider, who is best able to give advice and follow-up care based on your personal health history. Dr. Herrin adds, “If you can’t reach your doctor and don’t know, we’d obviously rather see you and help you figure things out.” Of course, if there’s a possibility that you may be having a stroke, heart attack or other life-threatening emergency, you should never waste time pondering a decision and immediately call 9-1-1. According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, warning signs of a medical emergency include heart attack and stroke symptoms, not being able to breathe, severe and uncontrolled bleeding, change in mental status, coughing up or vomiting blood, head injury, or sudden and severe pain anywhere in the body. And the best advice to stay out of the ER is to take good care of yourself. Stay healthy by eating a nutritious diet, exercising regularly, not smoking, obtaining routine medical care, and treating minor illnesses before they become major emergencies. p

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T A Y S L T E O F SA R SCHO OU n d on a O T S E T S L U O O R O H C S RY

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Heading back to school is an exciting time for kids. Supply-filled backpacks, new clothes, haircuts—everything they need to make this school year a successful one. A few stolen quiet moments is all we parents can think about. But what about making sure this school year is a safe one for our children and the community as a whole? “Safety is the top priority in our district,” says Ron May, USD 497 administrative services director, who oversees safety and transportation for the Lawrence school district. “It is foundational support for everything we do toward our mission of educating children.” In most U.S. cities, schools are the centers of the community, sanctuaries for teaching and learning. Keeping our communities free of crime and violence should be the main goal. But the challenges schools face daily in developing and maintaining a safe environment for learning can be complicated. Nonetheless, we must make sure our schools are safe and effective learning facilities for students and families. This has been a challenge the Lawrence school district has faced head-on recently with the $92.5-million bond issue, approved by voters on April 2, 2013, to improve facilities and educational opportunities for students and community members. “Safety was an important part of the bond-issue planning process,” May says. A Department of Homeland Security representative conducted a walkthrough of all USD 497 buildings, providing input on security measures that needed to be taken. Incorporating those suggestions, a renovation plan was put in place for Lawrence schools. Upon completion of the renovation, all schools should have:

• • • •

a secure entrance that requires visitors to check in through the office before being allowed access to the building new electronic locks, allowing teachers to lock their rooms with a remote FOB, similar to a car lock updated video surveillance systems new or reinforced storm shelters, where needed

Though bond-renovation projects at each Lawrence school are in various stages, Cordley Elementary is one of the schools that is now complete, with classes already back in session at the upgraded facility.

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“Student and staff safety is Cordley’s first priority,” explains Scott Cinnamon, Cordley principal. “We know that learning can’t occur if students and staff do not feel safe at school.” To enhance safety at the oldest elementary school building still operating in Lawrence, Cordley’s renovation included a new safe entry on the south side of the building, where visitors can enter a vestibule and be greeted by office staff. Visitors are buzzed in from this vestibule and issued a badge. All other doors to the building, minus those south-side entrance doors, remain locked throughout the school day, and all classroom doors now lock automatically when closed. Teachers operate classroom doors with a keypad. Security cameras were in operation before this renovation, but many more have been installed throughout the building. A sprinkler system has been added, as well as a speaking fire/tornado lockdown alarm that functions throughout the school. Finally, an addition built in 1951 that initially housed the school’s boilers has been cleared and now functions as a secondary shelter for students and staff. “I think all of the improvements to our facility, which was originally built in 1915, help to support a safe and healthy learning environment for Cordley students,” Cinnamon says. District-wide, each school has a crisis plan required by law, May explains. The district has an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) that outlines steps to take in the event of various emergencies, as well as a process for continuing basic operations in the aftermath of a disaster. The Lawrence School District’s EOP was developed in collaboration with representatives of Douglas County Emergency Management, the Lawrence Police Department, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Services and First Student, Lawrence’s school bus transportation provider. There is also mandatory safety training for all USD 497 staff. Schools are required by the state to conduct one fire drill per month, as well as three tornado and one bus-evacuation drill per semester, May continues. Although the district recommends two, schools are required to conduct one lockdown drill due to a safety threat per year. Crisis plans specific to an intruder are also in place and have been for several years, and law enforcement has been invited to observe and give feedback on those, he explains.


Keeping everyone notified when a crisis arises can be a tricky situation, especially today, with so many more possible dangerous situations arising every day. Communication is key, not only among school officials but also between the school, district officials and parents. “Open and ongoing, two-way communication between home and school helps to keep our school safe,” Cinnamon says. “We ensure safe learning communities when everyone looks out for one another.” On the district level, an Incident Command System (ICS), the same system used by first responders, is in place to assign roles to individuals in the event of an emergency, May explains. There are role assignments at the school level, and if things escalate to the district level, there are then role assignments for district officials. On a day-to-day basis in the schools, “We focus on education and prevention measures,” Cinnamon says. “We teach children about positive behaviors, such as kindness, responsibility and respect for others. We discuss digital citizenship so children know how to be safe when using technology. We encourage frequent handwashing and covering coughs and sneezes to prevent the spread of germs.” Lawrence schools also have an automated notification system, SchoolMessenger, to call and/or email parents in the event of an emergency. “We rely on our students and parents to let us know about any safety concerns so we can address them,” Cinnamon explains. “If children see or hear of something that bothers them, they should tell an adult. If parents see or hear of something that concerns them, I hope they will call the school office and report it.” Safety within the schools is one thing, but what about safety on the way to school and back home? How do we, as a community, come together and help keep all of our citizens safe during those times of the day? A good way to start is the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Initiative, an international movement dedicated to encouraging students to walk and bike to school. The Initiative promotes environmental protection, overall safety for the community and improved student academic performance due to exercise. Started in the Lawrence community in 2014 as a collaboration among several local organizations—the City of Lawrence, Lawrence Public Schools, Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization, LiveWell Lawrence and the LawrenceDouglas County Health Department—other groups, including the Lawrence Police Department, City of Eudora, Eudora Public Schools and Lawrence Parks and Recreation, have recently come on board. With no formal officers to oversee the Initiative, all of these partners play an important role in keeping the program functioning and effective. “It is a unique program,” says Chris Tilden, director of community health at the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department. “There are so many moving pieces. [Initially] We didn’t know how complicated it could be.” Unlike most communities that start off with only one or two schools, Lawrence began the SRTS program with 18 participating schools—14 elementary and four middle, with two private schools having recently joined. A longer-term goal is to add high schools.

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The initial question before implementing Safe Routes into the Lawrence community was simply, “How do we create a community that’s safe and active?” Tilden explains. Because physical activity was a big piece of the 2013 Community Health Plan, and with planning and health-department grant funding added in the fall of 2014, SRTS in Lawrence now had a good place to start. Currently, 14.6% of Lawrence residents either walk or bike to school, but the Initiative hopes to increase that percentage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend 60 minutes of physical activity per day for students, and since more than half of K through 8 Lawrence students live within a mile of their schools (about 54%), this goal seemed achievable here. “It’s more of a cultural phenomenon,” Tilden says. The Initiative officially got started in Lawrence last year and is just this year beginning in certain schools. “This year, we’re starting full force,” Tilden says. The program is designed with six elements to encourage walking and biking: evaluation, education, encouragement, engineering, enforcement and equity. 1. Evaluation for the Lawrence community has included conducting student travel tallies, parent surveys and community meetings to gather information and assess SRTS program progress. All the data collected are not only used within the Lawrence community but are also part of a larger national data set on SRTS. 2. Education involves getting out in the community and educating not only students but also parents and community members about being safe when walking and biking to school, as well as when driving. Also as part of this education element, physical education teachers have put together a bicycle-safety cur-

riculum to be started this year, beginning with the basics being taught directly to fifth-graders. By next year and dependent on funding, SRTS hopes to have a bike fleet in place with League Certified Instructors to travel to all schools and teach students extensive bicycle safety. 3. Encouragement means “making it fun for kids and families to get out of their cars and have fun going to school,” explains Rebecca Garza, health promotion specialist with the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department. Kids get incentives in the form of tickets that they can use in their schools for prizes. There are “Walk to School” and “Bike to School” days in which families can get involved. And schools hold activities such as fairs, all in the name of creating safety awareness within the Lawrence community. 4. Engineering is likely the most complicated piece of the SRTS puzzle. It includes maps, routes, sidewalks, maintenance—all things that can help make getting to school either safe or unsafe. The Lawrence Public Works Department is on the SRTS team helping with the logistics of the engineering aspect, the part that takes the longest and costs the most money. There is a Tier System in place, with Tier 1 schools choosing to go full force ahead, while Tier 3 schools dial it back because of a lack of time or resources due to bond construction. Liberty Memorial Central Middle School is the first Tier 1 school in Lawrence, with Woodlawn Elementary School also participating as Tier 1.

Tilden explains that SRTS partners must prioritize areas and maintenance needs for sidewalks and trails, and work with other plans within the city to create a stronger, safer pedestrian network. “It’s a long-term initiative,” he says.


5. Enforcement is getting everyone involved—drivers, walkers, cyclists, parents, teachers—while working with crossing guards and Lawrence police to follow all safety guidelines. The Initiative also hopes to implement student Safety Patrols in the near future to help with this element. 6. Equity, the only element not a part of the official SRTS program, ensures all students can equally access the program and are safe, regardless of socio-economic status. “We want for everyone to be safe, even if they’re walking not out of choice,” Tilden says. Funding for Safe Routes to Schools is key to keeping Lawrence kids and families safe when traveling to and from school. Though there has been money to get the program started in the community, there are still elements of the SRTS program that will need further funding in the future. “It’ll take continued funding from a variety of local and grant sources to make this as successful as possible,” Tilden says. SRTS funding now in place includes: • The City of Lawrence is using a Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) Phase 1 SRTS grant to support Public Works for its involvement in SRTS. The City has talked through the program with community partners, given professional feedback on recommendations for route placement and improvements, as well as provided input on other city-related SRTS issues, such as the current school crossing policy issue. The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department is working with city staff members from the SRTS to create suggestions and best practices for a revision of the school crossing policy. They hope to have these suggestions ready for input by the school district sometime in November. • The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department is using a Chronic Disease Risk Reduction grant, from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, to support ongoing communitywide coordination as well as to assist in public education and raising public awareness. The Lawrence Public School district also uses the funds to support school-level initiatives, such as creation and implementation of the new bike and pedestrian curriculum. • The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department is using a CDC Partnerships to Improve Community Health (PICH) grant to support ongoing community-wide coordination, as well as to assist in public education and raise public awareness. Being bold and aggressive has lead to a really positive outcome, Tilden explains. Even in one year, SRTS has made a lot of progress, and he hopes a lot of that will show this year. The Lawrence School District, schools officials and community organizations and members continue to work hard to make sure our kids and families are safe both in and outside of school. From a $92.5-million bond approved by Lawrencians in 2013 to a community-wide program designed with the safety and health of all as a top priority being introduced just this year, the City of Lawrence is trailblazing and on track to becoming the healthiest, safest community it can be. “We hope the community and parents will get involved,” Garza continues. “If the community is safe for students, it’s safe for everyone.”p

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THE LOCAL

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COTTONWOOD SALUTE 2015 73


THE LOCAL

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GEORGE CLINTON FREE STATE FESTIVAL 74


TASTE OF LAWRENCE

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NEWS [MAKERS] OrthoKansas,LLC welcomes Jamie Surmin, PA-C to their clinical staff.

Jamie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology from the University of Florida in 2008. She later received her Master of Science in Human Performance from the University of Florida in 2009 and a Master of Medical Science in Physician Assistant Studies (MSPAS) from the Nova Southeastern University in Jacksonville, Florida in 2011. Lindsay brings more than 4 years of experience working in internal medicine and pediatrics as well as spine care and interventional pain management. Surmin is a member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) and the Florida Academy of Physician Assistants (FAPA). Jamie joins the growing staff of 22 providers, which include Board Certified Orthopaedic Physicians & Surgeons, PA-C’s, and Physical & Occupational Therapists.

Good Energy Solutions, Inc. Awarded One of The Top 500 Solar Contractors in the U.S. Good Energy Solutions President, Kevin Good accepted an award for being one of “The Top 500 Solar Contractors” given by Solar Power World, the solar industry’s leading source for technology, development and installation. The award was presented at the Solar Power World Gala that kicked-off the Solar Power International (SPI) Tradeshow in session through September 17th in Anaheim, California. SPI is North America’s premier business-to-business event for professionals in solar energy and related fields. More than 15,000 solar energy industry professionals from 75+ countries attend. Professionals attend peer-led educational programming as well as mingle with over 600 leading manufacturers and service providers at the Expo. Good Energy Solutions is proud to be awarded this prestigious national award and to represent Lawrence, KS where quality business excels.

The Eldridge Hotel Announces New Executive Chef

Guests to The Eldridge Hotel will soon experience a change in culinary direction as its recently hired Executive Chef Drue Kennedy prepares to introduce his new menu to the Lawrence, Kan., community and its visitors. Kennedy came to The Eldridge Hotel from Zócalo on the Country Club Plaza. Prior to that he worked for PB&J restaurants, Grand Street Café and was also executive chef at Vivere in Chicago. His experience at those multi-million facilities makes Kennedy well-qualified to lead The Eldridge Hotel’s catering, dining and banquet services. “Drue has already made a positive impression on customers with his well-presented, well-balanced daily specials,” said Nancy Longhurst, The Olivia Collection General Manager. “We expect more tasty seasonal cooking, awesome food and beverage pairings and exceptional buffets. On occasion you’ll see him tableside in TEN restaurant checking on guests’ meals. Please make Drue feel welcome and share your favorite Eldridge moment with him.” Kennedy supervises The Eldridge Hotel’s culinary team. His passion for Italian food, seafood, braised meats and vegetarian and vegan cooking will come through in all of hotel’s culinary efforts. Chef Kennedy, his wife and stepson look forward to getting to know the Lawrence community better.

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]PEOPLE ON THE MOVE Integrity Midwest Insurance, LLC is proud to announce and welcome three new employees. Charlie Upton has come aboard as Executive Director of the new Health & Benefits Division. Mr. Upton works with HR managers and owners of various sized companies assisting with employee benefit plans, including group health, dental, disability and life insurance and specializing in Health Care Reform and benefit consulting.

Terri Etter joined the Integrity Midwest Insurance team in March 2015. Ms. Etter is an Account Manager and provides support for the Health & Benefits Division. Ms. Etter has a drive for helping individuals understand their health insurance benefits.

Amanda Lutz comes to Integrity Midwest Insurance with over eight years of experience in the property & casualty insurance industry. Ms. Lutz is a Commercial Account Manager and enjoys helping clients with all of their commercial insurance needs so they can focus on other aspects of their business. Ms. Lutz earned the Certified Insurance Service Representative designation in 2014 and the Certified WorkComp Specialist professional designation in 2015. Clint Kueffer, President of Integrity Midwest Insurance, states “We believe we have found three wonderful individuals who embrace the core values of our agency and will prioritize client needs.” Integrity Midwest Insurance, LLC is an independent insurance agency owned and operated by third generation insurance professionals.

OrthoKansas,LLC Physicians & Surgeons Attend and Present At Big 12 Conference.

Jeffrey Randall, M.D., Neal Lintecum, M.D. and Luis Salazar, M.D., all physicians at OrthoKansas, LLC, recently presented at the 19th Annual Big 12 Conference Team Physicians Meeting, which was held in Colorado Springs, Colorado June 11th-13th, 2015. Dr. Randall, who also serves as the Big 12 Physicians President, presented a talk on “Osteiod Osteomas in Athletes”; Dr. Lintecum presented a talk on “Hand and Wrist Dislocations in Athletes”; and Dr. Salazar presented a talk on “Dry Needling in Athletes” at the conference, which was attended by sports medicine specialists who provide medical and surgical care to student-athletes at the member schools of the Big 12 Conference. Dr.’s Randall, Lintecum and Salazar are also recognized as team physicians for the University of Kansas and Baker University and are sponsors for the Kansas Center of Athletic Medicine, LLC.

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NEW DOUGLAS COUNTY BUSINESSES [ JULY to SEPT 2015 1017 South Ash LLC 408 Casa Bonita Dr Lawrence 66049

Beachfront Living LLC 109 Stoncrest Pl Lawrence 66049

Diva Of Diy LLC 768 Elm St Lawrence 66044

Harlot LLC 7 E 7th St Lawrence 66044

Kansas 1501, L.C. 643 Massachusetts St Lawrence 66044

1650 Law And Policy Group LLC 644 Mississippi St Lawrence 66044

Beauty Through Courage/ Rose Brooks Center Association 3407 Aldrich St Lawrence 66047

Douglas County Diablos, Inc. 3404 WeStridge Ct Lawrence 66049

Healthy Facility Technologies, LLC 100 Riverfront Rd Lawrence 66044

Kansas Diving Inc. 2349 Surrey Lawrence 66046

Dream Label LLC 1601 Cadet Ave. Lawrence 66044

Helping Others Rise Fund 4212 Wheat State Lawrence 66049

2nd Chance Corp 3110 Mesa Way Lawrence 66049 5 And 2 Studio LLC 2553 Missouri St Lawrence 66046 56 Auto & Tire LLC HCR 819 Baldwin City 66006 800 New Hampshire, LLC 1040 Vermont St Lawrence 66044 824 & 828 East 14th St, LLC 1800 Mississippi Lawrence 66044 Accessibility Solutions, LLC 1925 Delaware St Lawrence 66046 Ach Construction Company LLC 273 N 2150 Rd Lecompton 66050 Ad Astra Running LLC 1609 Merion Cir Lawrence 66047 Airtight Weatherization LLC 1895 N 500 Rd Baldwin City 66006 Alljay, LLC 1225 E. 23RD Lawrence 66046 Amx Burrito King, LLC 2600 Princeton Blvd Lawrence 66049 Analyticable LLC 1204 Oak Tree Dr Lawrence 66049

Bernal & Surette Inc. 4500 Bob Billings Pkwy Lawrence 66049 Beyond The Crown LLC 1002 E 850 RD Lawrence 66047 Bi Group LLC 706 Massachusetts Lawrence 66044 Bke Investigative Services LLC 1520 Massachusetts St Lawrence 66044 Boutique For Me L.L.C. 812 Justin St Lawrence 66049 Bucket List Safaris LLC 4405 Harvard Rd Lawrence 66049 Burrough’s Creek Addition LLC 1146 Haskell Ave Lawrence 66044 Cb Productions LLC 603 Rockledge Rd Lawrence 66049 Championship Consulting LLC 509 Country Club Ter Lawrence 66049 Charritos Plaza Ii Inc. 2351 West 31 Ct Lawrence 66047 Christine Julian Interiors, LLC 134 Indian Ave Lawrence 66046 Church Of Christ - Lawrence 201 N Michigan St Lawrence 66044

Animatas Consulting LLC 4609 Woodridge Dr Cito’s Original LLC Lawrence 66049 1097 E 1400 Rd Lawrence 66046 Assist Music L.L.C. 2104 W 25 St Clouse Inspection Lawrence 66047 Service LLC 1512 Burning Tree Ct Athletic Strength Lawrence 66047 Institute, LLC 900 Massachusetts St Crosspointe Investment Lawrence 66044 Group LLC 917 Tennessee St Austin Ventures, LLC Lawrence 66044 1360 E 2076th Rd Eudora 66025 Davidson Investments, LLC Bao Fa, LLC 710 E 22nd St 1021 Holiday Dr Lawrence 66046 Lawrence 66049 Db Boyer, LLC Baucom Landscape LLC 3741 Greenway Cir 2124 Atchison AVE Lawrence 66046 Lawrence 66047

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Dwb Build Smart, LLC 3741 Greenway Cir Lawrence 66046 Dwb Fabrication, LLC 3741 Greenway Cir Lawrence 66046 Eclipse Group LLC 606 High Baldwin City 66006

Honey Creek Properties, LLC 26195 Linwood Rd Lawrence 66044 Hope Estimating Services LLC 2250 Lake Pointe Dr Lawrence 66049

Kansas Tree Care Inc 3000 Four Wheel Dr Lawrence 66047 Karuna - Mind And Bodywork LLC 1328 Vermont St Lawrence 66044

Krsnich Holdings, LLC 832 Pennsylvania St Lawrence 66044

Oh Snap Contracting LLC 639 Elm St Lawrence 66044

KSMIN, LLC 2103 Crossgate Cir Lawrence 66047

Falling Forward Foundation, Inc. 4513 Goldfield Lawrence 66049

Integrated Animal Research, LLC 5030 Bob Billings Pkwy Lawrence 66049

Lawrence 1244 LLC 1244 Louisiana St Lawrence 66044

Falling Star, LLC 2037 Tennessee St Lawrence 66046

Invictus Fitness LLC HCR 2500 Lawrence 66049

Lawrence Labor Solutions, LLC 507 Nigel Dr Lawrence 66049

Family Services, LLC 2001 E 25 Pl Lawrence 66046

Jamham, LLC 3311 Clinton Pkwy Lawrence 66047

Lawrence Live, LLC 912 Tennessee St Lawrence 66044

Fitzgerald Remodeling LLC 3112 Trail Rd Lawrence 66049

Jana University RR 2811 Lawrence 66047

Leathers Land Company, LLC 1002 W. 27TH Ter Lawrence 66044

Freestate Dental Building LLC 4137 Wimbledon Lawrence 66047 Garden Haus LLC 1028 New York Lawrence 66044 Global Fiber Technologies LLC 1323 E 2300 Rd Eudora 66025 Got Wood, LLC 3900 Overland Cir Lawrence 66049 Governmental Assistance Services LLC 905 Joseph Dr Lawrence 66049 Hapo L.C. 2418 Orchard Lane Lawrence 66049

Jayhawk Homes, LLC 3841 HILLSONG Cir Lawrence 66049 Jeremy Goates Therapeutic Massage LLC 2928 Kensington Rd Lawrence 66046 Jesse Properties LLC 4609 Trail Rd. Lawrence 66049 Jjl Farm Enterprise, LLC 900 Massachusetts Lawrence 66044

Olf Holdings LLC 1705 Haskell Ave Lawrence 66044 Olsen Construction Group, LLC 640 Ohio Lawrence 66044 Open World Cause, Inc. 1427 Coventry Manor Lawrence 66049 P Harris Consulting LLC 2600 W 6th St Lawrence 66049 Patriot Holdings, LLC 901 New Hampshire St Lawrence 66044

Let’s Talk Inc. 765 Ash St Lawrence 66044

Plt LLC 545 Columbia Dr Lawrence 66049

Liftinginlarryville, LLC 227 Iowa St Lawrence 66044

Prairie River Engineering And Inspection LLC 405 Perry St Lawrence 66044

Lighthouse Baptist Church Of Baldwin City, Kansas, Inc. 900 Chapel St Baldwin City 66006 Lindsey Siegele Media, LLC 831 Tennessee Lawrence 66044 Linscott LLC 5228 Eisenhower Place Lawrence 66049

Jose Auto Detail, LLC 3323 IOWA St Lawrence 66046

Little Homes On The Range, LLC 1113 W 29th Terr Lawrence 66046

Jump Start Real Estate LLC 1346 Vermont St Lawrence 66044

Magic Event Transportation LLC 1121 Louisiana St Lawrence 66044

K&K Family Farms, LLC 1035 Wildwood Dr Lawrence 66049

Mrs Properties, LLC 1801 Learnard Ave Lawrence 66044

Nucleus Apps LLC 810 S Pennsylvania St Lawrence 66044

IFS, LLC 14 Westwood Rd Lawrence 66044

Jay Grisafe LLC 2327 N 1500th Rd Eudora 66025

Robinson Creek Farm, LLC 5228 Carson Dr Lawrence 66049

Kronie LLC 1018 Stonecreek Dr Lawrence 66049

Emr-Kunshek Jv LLC 2110 Delaware St Lawrence 66046

Free State Media LLC 516 Shoal Lane Lawrence 66044

Mobilepropt, LLC 361 Woodlawn Manor Lawrence 66049

Mystery Works LLC 3121 Creekwood Dr Lawrence 66049

Idropped Of Lawrence, LLC 3912 Prairie Rose St Lawrence 66049

Jason Dailey Photo, LLC 322 Birch Lane Lawrence 66044

Residential Connections, LLC. 957 E 1450 RD Lawrence 66046 Restaurant Equipment Repair, LLC 3514 Clinton Pkwy Lawrence 66047

Kolibri Ventures LLC 1612 New Hampshire St Lawrence 66044

Ef Reed, LLC 923 Homewood Lawrence 66044

Franzenburg Law, LLC 2316 E 27 Terrace Lawrence 66046

Mclee’s Construction And Roofing LLC 1448 Brighton Cir Lawrence 66049 Millworth Investments, LLC 659 N 1457 Rd Lawrence 66047

Pride Home Management, LLC 5205 Carson Dr Lawrence 66049 Proairus, LLC 900 Massachusetts St Lawrence 66044 Quality Systems Consulting, LLC 411 Country Club Ct Lawrence 66044 Randlynn Inc. 2131 Quail Crek Dr Lawrence 66047 Rdl Freight Agency LLC 5121 Congressional Cir Lawrence 66049 Referral Realty, LLC 1012 Massachusetts Lawrence 66044

Royal Distributors LLC 2551 Crossgate Dr Lawrence 66049 Sano Massage Inc 911 Hilltop Dr Lawrence 66044 Sarah Williamson Cpa LLC 3300 Mesa Way Lawrence 66049 Schwickert’s Tecta America LLC 5555 W 6TH St Lawrence 66049 Simba Holdings LLC 701 E 19th Lawrence 66044

] The Refuge Christian Church 1526 Maple Eudora 66025 The Vintage Sunflower LLC 610 E 14th St Eudora 66025 Timeless Builders Services LLC 1930 Rhode Island St Lawrence 66046 Topwork Ecological Design LLC 1036 New York St Lawrence 66044 Torched Goodness LLC 1447 W 23 St Lawrence 66046 Trendy Saint LLC 3520 W 22nd St Lawrence 66047 True-To-Life Polygraph Service, LLC 1326 CreStline Dr. Lawrence 66049 Veeder Homes, LLC 5711 Warren Ct Lawrence 66049

Son Of Zen Catering LLC 1033 Rhode Island Visions In Voice, LLC Lawrence 66044 2037 Tennessee St Lawrence 66046 Sp Investments, LLC 527 Canyon Dr Wada Healing LLC Lawrence 66049 1103 Stone Meadows Dr Lawrence 66049 Spring St Rental LLC 645 Vermont 1323 We Went East LLC Lawrence 66044 900 New Jersey St Lawrence 66044 Stevens-Bristol LLC 938 E 1700th Rd Weld Properties LLC Baldwin City 66006 1031 Vermont St Lawrence 66044 Sugar Britches LLC 2021 Melholland Rd Western Building Lawrence 66047 Partners, LLC 832 Pennsylvania St Sunflower Tech, LLC Lawrence 66044 900 Massachusetts St Lawrence 66044 Wheat State Consulting, LLC Tanner’s Training LLC 418 N Blazing Star Dr 2500 Century Lawrence 66049 Lawrence 66049 Wmd, LLC Taste Of Grace Place 4213 W 26th Terrace Foundation Lawrence 66047 1046 Rhode Island Lawrence 66044 Wolffebrothers, LLC 659 N 1457 Rd Taylor Four, LLC Lawrence 66047 842 Louisiana Lawrence 66044 Wolffesisters, LLC 659 N 1457 Rd Team 3 Foundation, Inc. Lawrence 66047 3316 W 24th Terrace Lawrence 66047 Word Craft, LLC 400 Jane Ct The Borough, LLC Lawrence 66049 3424 Trail Rd Lawrence 66049 Zoom Home Health Care LLC The Campus Village, Inc. 3514 Clinton Pkwy 900 Massachusetts St Lawrence 66047 Lawrence 66044


WH OSE D ESK? Be the first to correctly guess which local business figure works behind this desk. Winner receives a $50 gift card to 23rd Street Brewery. facebook.com/lawrencebusinessmagazine

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