Chief’s Chat

Who does your Twitter? That’s still the most frequent question I get, even after being here for three years. (Yes, I know it is now X, but it will always be Twitter to me.) Even before I started, people would tell me not to mess up the Twitter account—before even telling me congratulations. Our far-reaching Twitter account with its approximately 160,000 followers is an important tool for sharing information with our community. Now, I want to introduce you to this new informational quarterly report, which will be another platform to help you stay safe and secure.

This quarterly report is just one more step in my goal to ensure we share the goings-on at the department with our community. You’ll see how we are progressing in our community service, including crime numbers, response times to calls, cases completed, and alternative ways of handling calls to police.

It’s my vision to police Lawrence the way you want to be policed, and we’re implementing innovative strategies on a regular basis that we want to share with you.

We’ll also have regular features. You’ll see what a day in the life of a police K9 is like. This quarter you hear from Rosie, our newest K9. She’s a therapy dog and primarily works in our schools.

We’ll introduce new programs to help you take charge of your own personal safety. This edition highlights the Rape Aggression Defense classes we’ve started offering free of charge.

You’ll see tips for winter driving and how to stay safe on the internet to help you and your family discuss how to stay safe in the real and virtual world.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design introduces you to simple ways to make the area around your home or business less tempting to criminals.

We also want you to get to know the men and women who work to help keep you safe and will do that through a section called “Behind the Badge”. These “icebreaker” questions will be the same each month, and we hope they will be informative and fun!

If there is something you want to see here, email our communications department at LPDMedia@lkpd.org and ask a question, give feedback, or send a story idea. You might see it in a future edition.

Respectfully,

Rich Lockhart