Lawrence Police Department changes recruiting tactics, looks to hire experienced officers / LJWorld.com

Archive for Monday, November 8, 2010

Lawrence Police Department changes recruiting tactics, looks to hire experienced officers

November 8, 2010

City leaders have begun the national search for a new chief of the Lawrence Police Department.

City Manager David Corliss said the recruitment is open, and the application deadline is Dec. 6. The city is seeking to replace longtime chief Ron Olin, who retired from the city in August and became director of security and internal controls for Kansas Athletics Inc.

Corliss hopes to have the new chief in place before the end of the year and has selected Tarik Khatib, a captain and 18-year department veteran, to serve as interim chief. The city manager said he wanted to open up a nationwide search for the position, but he also has said he expected several internal candidates to do well in the process. Khatib has said he would be interested in the permanent position.

According to the job description, qualifications include nine years of “increasingly responsible experience in municipal police work,” including at least four years in administration and management. The department has an operating budget of $14.2 million, and the city’s 2011 budget authorizes 142 officers and about 41 civilian staff members.

The Lawrence Police Department is using a recruitment tactic it hasn’t tried in several years, all in an effort to get more officers on the streets.

The department is seeking to hire five certified officers with at least two years of experience on another police force.

Often, Lawrence police recruits are new to the profession. They undergo a 23-week academy conducted by the local department, plus they are paired up with experienced officers for several weeks when initially they begin patrolling the streets.

But interim Police Chief Tarik Khatib said attrition can greatly affect staffing levels in between academies, and he said the department needed to be innovative to replace officers who leave.

“At least for the positions we are authorized for, we ought to do our best to keep those as fully staffed as possible,” he said.

The department last took this approach to hire experienced officers in 2001, he said. The plan is for this class of five officers to be able to start working at full capacity sooner than new recruits. The more experienced group will complete a shorter local academy.

During an interview Friday, Khatib said that the force through attrition loses an average of nine officers a year and that right now the department is basically operating at 20 percent below the number of patrol officers city leaders have authorized in the budget.

Until the recent crop of nine September police academy graduates are able to begin patrolling on their own and the five experienced officers are hired, current officers are asked to work extra hours, which can take a toll over time.

Khatib said the public likely won’t notice the shortage when police respond to significant events, such as injury accidents or major crimes, including shootings, sexual assaults and homicide investigations.

But he said having fewer patrol officers on a shift means it might take longer to respond to certain calls or that fewer criminals could be caught in the act. It can affect how the department can respond to crowds at Kansas University games or control traffic, such as for a half-marathon.

But he’s hopeful that hiring more experienced officers will speed up the training process because these officers instead would only need to be trained on things specific to Lawrence instead of starting with the basics.

“What we’re trying to do is close that gap by hiring as quickly as possible,” Khatib said, “without sacrificing the quality of the hires.”

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cheeseburger 2 years, 6 months ago

I hope interim Chief Khatib ran this plan past Laura Routh initially, because she is, after all, the resident expert in all matters concerning the police department - or at least she thinks she is!

skinny 2 years, 6 months ago

Very true Cheeseburger. Oh, and don't forget those black helicopters too!

can8iv66049 2 years, 6 months ago

HA!

kimk 2 years, 6 months ago

What? He's going to make cops have more than a GED. That's just crazy! Oh wait never mind, they just have to have two years of experience on another police force, but can still have a GED. Cops walking around with guns, tasers and GED's thats the policy that needs to be revised.

kernal 2 years, 6 months ago

Over a decade ago I heard they want college grads. I know some area towns will hire those with a high school diploma, but this is the first I've heard of hiring with only a GED in Lawrence. Are you sure about that?

smitty 2 years, 6 months ago

JW, why won't the experienced law enforcement of officers hired by the LPD show on your search circa 2001?

Where's the JW link to the related or referenced articles in 2001?

Where's the archived story on the last data on LPD and civilian employees?...like Lawrence's population to officers, etc?

Under services>LJWorld.com....it just puts you back on the news page with the search the same as always...totally an archive failure.

Does the JW not want us to access the archives for whatever reason or for my reading on the local news..... to verify information on our own?

BTW, I don't ever remember that any of your awards were for easy, understandable, user friendly archives.

wmathews 2 years, 6 months ago

I messaged you back about this, smitty. If you give me more details on what the article from 2001 was about, I can help you find the link. We had over 240 stories mentioning the Lawrence police that year.

smitty 2 years, 6 months ago

That's exactly what I thought....the JW can access the archives but the public is not allowed access through the search methods now employed(read blocked).

Repeat repeat repeat......Where's the JW link to the related or referenced articles in 2001?

I don't want the JW staff deciding what I'm to access. Right now the only way is to go to the library and use the microfiche to find these stories and may be faster, too.

That's the problem with the archives......just allow the archives search to access those 240 articles in 2001 on the LPD. I want all those to pop up for me and I'll decide which is applicable of those 240 stories on the LPD. You don't need nor is it desirable for you to decide what I want to read from your past published editions.

This is why I have continuously requested a better archive search every since the JW started tightening down on the access. What has the JW got to gain for blocking access to public published news articles?

smitty 2 years, 6 months ago

Recently you published news of a new CEO.

Dennis Anderson e-mailed me when I asked if the new COO is the one I should contact to get the archives fixed. He e-mailed me about this but forwarded my return e-mail to you today for an answer. Silly me, it was you and Kealing who have been incapable of answering the question on the archives all along.

JW e-mail from wm to smitty....Dennis forwarded me your message about unsuccessfully searching for a story on the site. I can try to help you find the story from 2001 if you have more specific information. In 2001 we had over 240 stories about Lawrence police on the website.

Search is a very difficult process to perfect. Unlike Google, we do not have thousands of employees dedicated to make it flawless. It's very important when using search on LJWorld.com that you use correct spelling and proper keywords. If you throw bad keywords at a search engine, it won't return the results you're looking for. ...

geeeze Whitney, the archives worked much better prior to the newest software that requires correct spelling and proper keywords.

I suggest contact with the new COO for instructions on how to proceed....

JW October 16, 2010 Schlicht will have responsibilities for all facets of the company operations, and also for WorldWest Limited Liability Company, which publishes newspapers in Steamboat Springs and Craig, Colo., and Payson, Ariz. Her total responsibilities will encompass the Journal-World, its commercial printing, weekly newspapers and magazines, its digital operations, plus Mediaphormedia LLC, its commercial software division, and other offshoots such as StoryMarket LLC, a new venture that enables Internet content transactions for buyers and sellers.....

I just want to read the past stories that apply to current events without JW controlling my access to their news archives. That's all.

wmathews 2 years, 6 months ago

Hi smitty, No one is limiting or blocking access to public archives of our stories, and I agree that our search feature could use improvement. If you'd like my help locating the story to which you're referring, please send me an email or PM and I'll assist you.

smitty 2 years, 6 months ago

Whitney, if you can access 240 articles then the software has nothing to do with shifting the responsibility to not having the ability as google does. You have the ability.

I have stated now three times......

the article from 2001 on the last time the LPD hired experienced officers......

......YOUR reporter, George Diepenbrock, referenced that data in this story.

What's hard about that? Why offline instead of on-line? Why is openness a big deal for the JW management, administration and staff?

wmathews 2 years, 6 months ago

Employees at LJWorld.com use the same search tool that you have access to. It's ridiculous to suggest that we would purposely keep content from you.

George doesn't reference an article from 2001 in his story. The text actually reads "The department last took this approach to hire experienced officers in 2001." Like I said, if you have more details feel free to shoot me an email and I'll try to find any article we did on this back in 2001 to help you out.

smitty 2 years, 6 months ago

Yeah it's ridiculous.

Recommended results is the top right side entry when seaarched used.

What does the entry at the top of the page mean other than the JW is selective in what is shown in the archive search?

smitty 2 years, 6 months ago

correction.....top left side.....I can see it now....

what entry?...if you will e-mail me I will assist....

sincerely......

JW staff and management

roflmao

smitty 2 years, 6 months ago

A little section on how to use your search is an award winning idea that would make your archives something more than the JW archives complete with JW recommended results.

This off line confidential communications on what effects all of the forum is ridiculous. Since I'm not alone in critical comments on the search, consider fixing it or admit that the archives are not available for on-line research.

Practicality 2 years, 6 months ago

Apparently Smitty believes the FREE ljworld online search options are inadequate. Must be a conspiracy in the works . . . . .

smitty 2 years, 6 months ago

Thanks for being a faithful reader of mine. roflmao

Alexander Neighbors 2 years, 6 months ago

Smitty Here is a way you can get Everything from 1990 on I created it to find all of the stories done on Guy and Carrie because some of the people the police were claiming were conspiring with Carrie had actually committed crimes against her in the past.

http://rezwatt.org/ljworldlist.php might take a sec to load. it displays links to every story done from jan 1, 1990 to 2009

once you load the page you have to use "Find" -> edit->find and search for the story title your looking for.

the lj world search function sucks horribly.

sentinel4820 2 years, 6 months ago

Here Smitty, now shut up, geez!!!

New crop of officers joins force by Mike Belt LJWorld.com

If you knew how to search for something other than your __, you might be able to figure this computer thing out.

sentinel4820 2 years, 6 months ago

Since you want everyone else to do the work for you, here Smitty, now shut up, geez!!!

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2001/jun...

If you knew how to search for something other than your __, you might be able to figure this computer thing out.

smitty 2 years, 6 months ago

Matthews, If you knew how to search for something other than your __, you might be able to figure this computer thing out.

Dennis Anderson and Kealing, If you knew how to search for something other than your __, you might be able to figure this computer thing out.

If the JW allows for me to insulted then turn around fair play.

Yeoman2 2 years, 6 months ago

Make sure they hire those who are skilled at covering up their misconduct and criminal behaviors of their own. Some of the present officers do not seem to comprehend the meaning of the Miranda Decision or simple basic human decency.

Food_for_Thought 2 years, 6 months ago

I've heard the usual idiots rant about this "Miranda Decision" conspiracy before. Where's the proof? I'm not doubting, but I'm not seeing the evidence to support these claims...

Guardian 2 years, 6 months ago

Please explain to us when the Miranda Warning is required and just when the warning was violated. Dates and times will suffice.

Lawrence Police Department changes recruiting tactics, looks to hire experienced officers

National search for police chief under way

Comments

I hope interim Chief Khatib ran this plan past Laura Routh initially, because she is, after all, the resident expert in all matters concerning the police department - or at least she thinks she is!

That isn't counting the one that killed a man does it?

Indus River - You're like a stalker. Talking about married couples, people who work for public agencies. You say you have pictures on your phone. It's a little creepy.

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