Topeka ? Larry Welch was “one of those weird kids” who knew exactly what he wanted to do when he grew up.

The director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said he grew up in St. John wanting to be an FBI agent. He began writing to the bureau asking about a career when he was still a junior in high school.

Larry Welch, director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, knew as a child in small-town Kansas that he wanted a law-enforcement career. The 66-year-old Lawrence resident and 1958 Kansas University School of Law graduate, worked for the FBI and directed the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center near Hutchinson before he became the top KBI official.

“I probably saw an FBI movie somewhere,” said Welch, 66, a Lawrence resident.

Welch did join the FBI after earning a law degree from Kansas University in 1958. But only after a making a quick stab at joining the KBI first.

Logan Sanford, then the KBI director, also was from St. John, a small town south of Great Bend. Welch said Sanford was a mentor who tried to pull strings to get Welch into the KBI despite a rule KBI agents had to have seven years of law enforcement experience before they could be hired.

The requirement, however, was not lifted and Welch went on to the FBI academy.

“We joked that I wasn’t qualified to join the KBI but I was qualified to join the FBI,” Welch said.

Lots of background

From 1961 until 1986 Welch worked as an FBI agent in eight cities across the country and Puerto Rico. He investigated cases involving the Ku Klux Klan in the South and served a few months on the security team guarding U.S. Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy shortly after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

“I was the youngest agent on the security detail so I was told to keep my mouth shut,” Welch said.

Welch said his wife, Shirley, still has notes from Robert Kennedy’s wife, Ethel. Some of them were apologetic for keeping Larry Welch away from home so much.

While working for the FBI in Kansas City, Mo., Welch led an investigation of a kidnapping-bank robbery-murder scheme in Burrton in central Kansas. Three men were arrested and convicted of robbing the Burrton State Bank. The robbers shot and wounded a bank official and kidnapped his wife and tried to kill her.

After leaving the FBI and serving about five years as director of the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center near Hutchinson, Welch accepted an offer from then Kansas Atty. Gen. Robert Stephan to head the KBI. Welch moved to Lawrence and commutes to KBI headquarters in Topeka.

“I love my job,” Welch said. “I think I’ve got the best job in the state maybe the country.”

This year the KBI, as are all state agencies, is trying to operate under increasing budget constraints. Welch noted that about 40 percent of the KBI’s $19 million budget comes from federal grants and special fees. He credits the state’s lawmakers in Congress for assisting in obtaining federal funds.

“We’re not bashful,” Welch said. “We tell them we need help. The bottom line is we’ve become state-assisted, not state-supported.”

The KBI provides valuable help to local sheriff and police departments, said Douglas County Sheriff Rick Trapp. He said one KBI agent has an office in the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and works closely with local officers and those from surrounding counties.

“They are always there if we need them, and it isn’t just our county but other counties as well,” Trapp said.

Meth lab busts

Since the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., the KBI has stepped up cooperation with federal and local law enforcement agencies including Lawrence Police in tracking foreigners in the state on various visas. Immediately after the attacks, about 50 people were interviewed in Kansas at the request of the FBI.

“I don’t think there was any earth-shaking information that came out of our particular interviews, although there was some intelligence that was particularly good, and we passed it on to the FBI and they were very appreciative,” Welch said.

Because of the fear of agroterrorism, the KBI also checked on licensed and unlicensed crop-dusters in the state. Top KBI officials serve on several federal and state anti-terrorism committees, Welch said.

One of the main crime problems in Kansas continues to be the manufacturing of methamphetamine, Welch said. In 2001 the KBI and local law enforcement agencies located 846 meth labs.

“We’re getting them because we’re looking for them,” Welch said. “I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel but I do see the tunnel.”

The KBI director serves at the will of the attorney general. Atty. Gen. Carla Stovall is running for governor. If there is a new attorney general next year and Welch is asked to continue, he said he has no reason not to do so.

“As long as my health is good and it’s great, as long as I have the energy and as long as I don’t do anything stupid, I don’t have any immediate plans to retire,” Welch said.