Topeka ? Kansas Bureau of Investigation director Larry Welch will resign later this year after serving more than 12 years at the head of the state’s top law-enforcement agency.

Welch, a Lawrence resident, announced this morning that he had notified Attorney General Paul Morrison of his intention to step downas KBI director at the end of May. He’s held the job since 1994.

“I have had the wonderful privilege and great honor to have served more than twelve years as the tenth director of the KBI, serving, including Attorney General Morrison, four Kansas attorneys general,” he wrote. “It is time for another to experience the privilege of leadership of the remarkable men and women of the KBI.”