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Rich Lockhart

Story updated at 8:15 p.m. Thursday:

City Manager Craig Owens has announced a sole candidate for the final stage of the recruitment process for the new chief of the Lawrence Police Department.

The candidate, Rich Lockhart, is currently the police chief for the Warrensburg, Mo., Police Department, according to a city news release. He previously had a 26-year career with the Kansas City, Mo., police department.

The city is hosting a public meet-and-greet as an opportunity for community members to visit with Lockhart on Thursday, Nov. 18. City spokesperson Porter Arneill said Lockhart is the only finalist candidate. Arneill said an offer of employment has not yet been made, and that Owens is interested in hearing from the community before making a final decision.

The city hired national executive recruitment firm Ralph Andersen & Associates at a cost of $35,000 to lead the city’s search for a new police chief. Assistant City Manager Brandon McGuire said a search committee and three interview panels, consisting of community members, police and city staff, helped evaluate the candidates.

Regarding how the city ended up with only one finalist, McGuire said it was the result of a second finalist withdrawing from consideration. McGuire said 20 people applied to the position, two of whom withdrew after the initial screening process. From those remaining 18 candidates, the consultant recommended six to the city’s search committee, three moved on to interviews, and two candidates were selected as finalists. McGuire said it was at that point that the other candidate, faced with the application becoming public, decided to withdraw from consideration.

McGuire said that given that the search committee and the interview panels highly recommended both of the finalists, the city wanted to honor that recommendation and continue the process.

McGuire, who is on the search committee, said the other members included Victory Bible Church Pastor Leo Barbee, County Administrator Sarah Plinsky, Lawrence Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Lewis, Community Police Review Board member and former board chair Tonia Salvini, Lawrence Police Department Major Anthony Brixius and Lawrence Police Officers Association Chairperson Kevin Henderson. McGuire said one of the interview panels included members of the search committee as well as members of the city’s Community Police Review Board.

The announcement comes after much anticipation over the chief and the future direction of the police department.

In May 2020, the city announced that Lawrence Police Chief Gregory Burns Jr., the city’s first Black police chief, would step down from his position just a few months after most members of the police union voted that they did not have confidence in his ability to lead the department, as the Journal-World previously reported. Specific reasons for the decision or the union’s vote were never publicly disclosed, and a separation agreement between Burns and the city included a “mutual non-disparagement” agreement and a $106,805 payment to Burns.

Not long after, the Lawrence City Commission called for a review of the police department in the wake of national and local calls for police reform and protests against police killings of Black people and other people of color. The commission ultimately agreed in October 2020 to pay the firm Citygate Associates $117,833 for a comprehensive study of the police department, the creation of a new master plan and the development of a candidate profile for the city’s next police chief. The subsequent 132-page report, which the commission received in May of this year, included 60 findings and 75 recommendations. The creation of an implementation plan for the report’s recommendations is ongoing.

The salary range for the position is up to $189,608, with an expected starting salary of approximately $150,000, according to the city’s brochure for the position. The brochure states in part that the city commissioned the study with an “intense interest in social justice concerns.” It states that the next chief will not only need to be fully fluent in the topics in police reform and oversight, but will also need to play a leadership role in evolving policing in Lawrence.

“This will certainly include making sure people understand the need and path forward, as well as building a productive relationship with Lawrence’s appointed citizen oversight body, the Lawrence Community Police Review Board,” the brochure states.

McGuire said while it is a challenge both nationally and regionally to recruit people at the executive level of law enforcement right now, he didn’t have any concerns that the city didn’t get a wide enough pool of applicants. He said he thought support from the department as well as the study had contributed to that.

“Our community, I think, because we’ve laid the groundwork with our police department study and really creating a future vision for our police department, that actually gave us a recruiting edge,” McGuire said.

Lockhart held the rank of major with the KCPD at the time of his retirement, having worked in various assignments within the department, including human resources, patrol, special operations and research and development, according to the release. He was the department spokesperson for more than eight years. Lockhart has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Kansas and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harding University. He and his wife, Laura, have seven kids, and his hobbies include photography and classic cars.

The meet-and-greet with Lockhart will take place Thursday, Nov. 18, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St. McGuire said the meet-and-greet was a chance for the candidate to get a sense of what sort of community he would be working in and for residents to provide feedback. He said residents would be able to talk one-on-one with Lockhart and then fill out a feedback form for the city’s consideration.

The police chief reports to the city manager, and the final hiring decision is made by the city manager and does not require City Commission approval.