Kansas A.G. honors several Lawrence police officers
It's all in a day's work for several Lawrence police officers and emergency dispatchers honored today by Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison for their actions during a domestic violence incident last Spring. Enlarge video
Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison paid a visit to the Lawrence Police Department on Thursday to commend three officers and two dispatchers for rescuing a young woman from domestic violence.
On April 30, 2006, a 19-year-old Lawrence woman was being chased by her ex-boyfriend who had a possible intent to harm her, according to a police report. The suspect, an 18-year-old Wichita man, was waiting for the woman outside her home when she drove by, saw him and continued driving. He then chased her by car and forced her off the road and attempted to enter her vehicle.
During the chase, dispatcher Kristine Chapman-Keezer said several citizen calls were made about speeding cars in the East Lawrence area. The chase began near West 19th and Iowa streets and ended in the 1500 block of Massachusetts Street.
Later, the victim's father, who lives in Wichita, called Lawrence police to help save her daughter after she had called him.
Officers Sutagee Anglin, Hayden Fowler, Brad Fry and dispatchers Jimmy Ramsey and Chapman-Keezer worked together quickly and efficiently to determine a location to intercept the suspect and rescue the woman from the possibly life-threatening situation. The status of the case was unavailable Thursday.
Morrison said the victim's father told him that the Lawrence Police Department worked at the "top of their game."
"I absolutely believe that departments, police departments and prosecutor's offices that are aggressive in dealing with that problem (domestic violence) early on save lives," Morrison said.
Morrison gave each officer and the dispatchers a letter of recognition and spoke about the value of fighting domestic violence proactively and aggressively. In July, Morrison launched a Domestic Violence Unit and the addition of a lead domestic violence prosecutor who helps train other prosecutors statewide deal with unique domestic violence cases.
"Being a cop is often a thankless job," Morrison said.
Lawrence Police Chief Ron Olin agreed and said he was appreciative that his officers and dispatchers were recognized.
Chapman-Keezer has been a dispatcher at the Lawrence Police Department for five years.
"It's very humbling and the most satisfying line of work I can think of," she said.
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consumer1 (anonymous) says…
congratulations to all the above, and thanks for helping protect this girl from abuse.
lawrencejayhawks (anonymous) says…
Being a cop and dispatcher is a "thankless job" as it seems they all deal with negativity on a daily basis. I have never heard of anyone calling the police to report something "good" has happened to them. With this said, I think it is very important to recognize emergency workers for the work they do so they do not lose sight of the importance they have in our society.
What troubled me after watching the interview was how Chief Olin downplayed the role of his officers and dispatchers. To see a leader of the department go on camera and say, "Its really not a big deal, these guys/gals do it all the time," is really not a pep talk or serve to promote the actions of his officers/dispatchers. Is this his idea of motivating his employees? It sure would not work for me. Albeit this was a political move on AG Morrison's part to promote his DV unit, I commend him for taking the time to recognize the officers/dispatchers that were involved and I was very disppointed in Chief Olin's public comments.
smitty (anonymous) says…
The officers and the dispatcher were doing their jobs in this case.
Morisson, you need to rid the police of domestic violence first. Have you got a grant for that?
Perhaps Olin's response is based in the fact he knows that some of his officers are knowingly unprosequted domestic abusers. A few years ago Olin and Wildgen attempted to circumvent the state laws to keep an officer, on the lpd after a conviction for domestic abuse of his daughter. Since that time officers are known to address the abused wifes with "if you file a report on this incident he will lose his career". The profile of an abused woman is clearly known as a risk factor in not following through with the complaint. Olin is a developemental psyche doctorate. They all know how to manipulate the victim into not pressing charges.
Is there any wonder the hipocracy cools Olin's response?
coolmom (anonymous) says…
do you think if he had played up the fact that his officers were involved in helping this young woman that people would just whine about how he shouldnt be getting praised for doing what they are trained\paid to do? seem like this would be a hard job and he walks a fine line.
Centrist (anonymous) says…
Good job by all involved - well done!!
This is not "political" at all - I don't see how it could be.
I see it that Morrison is doing something about domestic violence - a huge, often unreported problem. Good for him.
Again, nice job, all!
smitty (anonymous) says…
Our kansas law states a mandatory arrest if abuse is apparent so our lpd officers are not even close to any kind of equality in the enforcement of the dv laws.
Morisson has a good reputation from the joco days on dv but where is the dv by police enforcement?