Lawrence Journal-World opinion section

It appears that a review of Lawrence police policies for voiding and dismissing tickets for a variety of city offenses was overdue.

A recent Journal-World review of 927 forms to void or dismiss tickets filed between August 2012 and 2016 revealed a number of questionable situations. In many cases, the forms lacked required signatures from officers or prosecutors or were vague about why the tickets were canceled. One group of 88 voided tickets was found in a lockbox, having lingered there — in some cases, for years — without the required signatures.

Although police and city officials said they have found no evidence of wrongdoing, they also acknowledged that some of the problems that were revealed indicate it is time to give the ticket process another look. The public should be glad to know that Lawrence police already have made several changes, including the addition of an annual audit of voided tickets. The city may consider other changes to bring the Lawrence ticket process more in line with policies in other communities.

City and police officials may be satisfied that no wrongdoing occurred, but it was difficult to verify that contention with the redacted records that the Journal-World received. Claiming privacy concerns, the city either partially or fully redacted the names of people whose tickets were voided before releasing the forms. Assistant City Manager Diane Stoddard said the city is confident officers were not violating the city’s favoritism policy, but it’s hard for the public to confirm that when the names have been withheld. It’s also disappointing that, despite several requests, Police Chief Tarik Khatib declined to even speak to the Journal-World about the ticket matter.

Transparency should be a top priority for the local police force. The information released to the public through the J-W record request shed some light on practices related to tickets being dismissed or voided, but it may not allay all of the public’s concerns. Hopefully, changes in department oversight of this process will help build the public’s confidence that its ticketing system is being fairly and ethically handled by the Lawrence police and prosecutors.