If you’ve got opinions on how a police department should operate or think you could serve as an officer, you’ve got a couple of potential avenues to check out.

First, the Lawrence Police Department is hiring. More information is available online at joinlawrencepd.org. There you can fill out a job interest form which will put you in line for a recruiter to speak with you about a career with LPD.

According to the department’s website a few potential assignments for department employees includes patrol, investigations, crime response teams, K9 handlers, student resource officers, bike patrol, juvenile investigators and crime scene investigators.

The department hosts its own, in-house academy in Lawrence, the website says. Those chosen for the 26-week course will be paid and work full time.

According to LPD’s 2017 pay plan, a new hire with no experience will receive a minimum base pay of $44,042 a year. Additionally salary and benefit information is available online.

Admittedly, a life in law enforcement is not for everybody. Or perhaps you’re no longer a spring chicken but you still wish to contribute. Well, you can head over to the City of Lawrence’s website, lawrenceks.org, and complete a survey regarding citizen oversight of LPD.

Links to the survey can also be found on LPD’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Questions within the survey address topics like citizen access to complaint forms regarding the department and increasing the role of the current Citizens’ Advisory Board for Fair and Impartial Policing.

The survey also asks users whether the department should introduce body cameras, collect data on race for calls to service and add a sergeant position to “manage professional standards and accountability.”

Alongside the multiple choice questions the survey also allows users to submit their own, brief written responses regarding each question. Those who take the survey can choose to do so anonymously or to have their responses published on the website with their names.

As of Tuesday morning the city has received less than 10 responses but there’s plenty of time before the 12 a.m. Jan. 21 deadline. So if you have a few thoughts, head on over to the website. The entire ordeal only takes about five minutes.

I’ll keep an eye on the survey and report back on the responses as the deadline nears.

I report on crime and courts for the Journal-World. I can be reached by email at cswanson@ljworld.com, by phone at (785) 832-7284 or on Twitter @Conrad_Swanson.