Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, March 12, 1998
Laptop gives KU police high-tech help
By Laura Roddy
lroodby@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Police officers from the KU Public Safety Office, similar to other officers across the state, are taking technology into the field.
Sgt. Chris Keary said that four officers last week had begun taking a laptop computer, equipped with report-writing software, with them on patrol shifts.
The officers, who each are on different shifts, will be using the laptop in the field for a trial period.
With the laptop, officers can enter information directly into a report as they interview witnesses or victims. That way, the officers do not have to transcribe notes when they file a report. Officers can print their reports in the squad room at Carright-O'Leary Hall or give their supervisors the computer disk.
"This is an example of using technology to use the officers' time more efficiently," Keary said.
A KU Public Safety officer works with a new laptop in the parking lot of Carruth-O'Leary Hall. The laptop allows officers to type reports while they are in the field instead of transcribing notes when they return to the office. Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANSAN
The public safety office has had the report-writing software since early October, Keary said. It is installed on six computers, including the laptop.
After evaluating the benefits, tentative plans are to expand so that more officers could use a laptop when patrolling, Keary said.
He said all officers attended training in December to learn how to operate the software, which was created by Brandt Drafting based in Valley Center.
"Some have really gotten into it, whereas some are writing out the reports like they always have," he said. "I think as they see how easy it is to use and how handy it is, hopefully, more will do."
Al Brandt of Brandt Drafting said 151 agencies in Kansas were using the software. The Kansas Highway Patrol is using 35 laptops, and the software also is being marketed in Oklahoma, he said.
Brandt said he created the program in 1991 for a friend at the Halstead Police Department.
That year, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation created new forms with smaller fields and check boxes that no longer could be typewritten, he said.
"It took awhile to catch on," Brandt said. "The last couple of years it's really taken off."
Brandt said one advantage was the computer version of offense reports and
accident forms looked the same as the paper forms officers filled out by hand.
The Lawrence police department is testing two laptops in the field, said Sgt. George Wheeler. He said that the laptops had been out for about a month and
that the goal was to get feedback from as many officers as possible.
"We're still kind of in a transitional phase," he said. "At some point, we're going to send our forms in electronically to the KBI."
Photos exhibit evolving definition of family
Lindsay Lurick, Overland Park junior, looks at the Family in Photography exhibit. The Family in Photography pictures are on display at the Spencer Museum of Art. Photo by Eileen Bakri/KANSAN
Museum displays art documenting American lifestyle
By Sarah Hale Special to the Kansan
As an icon during the Great Depression or as a model for the perfect suburban lifestyle, the term family has changed definitions. An exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art uses photographs to compare these changes.
The mother's bond with children and the rise in amateur photography are just two of the aspects that The Family in Photography exhibit illustrates. The exhibit will run through March 22.
first-time visitor to the museum.
One first-time visitor to the museum thought the exhibit gave an accurate description of families.
Stefanie Vigil, curatorial intern of photography at the museum, said the past 100 years had been a period of growth and change for families.
After the Great Depression, a period when family represented strength despite U.S. economic despair, came a time of amateur photos and children's individuality. Viril said.
"It shows a natural setting, whereas paintings are sometimes fake. In the photo, you see the people as they really are. Each family is different-nude, poor or rich," said Nora Allan, Lawrence resident.
The exhibit includes photos from the 1940s to the 1970s that depict a modern suburban lifestyle.
Bill Owen's Suburbia, a photo from 1973, does not include pictures of people but is of a living room decorated for Christmas. Christmas presents, a television and other modern items in the photo represent the family.
"Whether formal studio portraits or casual snapshots, photographs of the family have broadened our understanding of how our culture functions and how we view ourselves," Vigil said.
The exhibit was designed by Vigil to be a visual representation of the growth in families. By including more than 50 black and white photos from the 19th century to the present, Vigil tries to show how fast the definition of family has changed.
Photographer Mark Goodman takes another step at defining a family by stressing the importance of children's individuality. His 1970s photos show children standing in their bedrooms surrounded by their possessions.
The 1970s was a period when children were given more freedom to express themselves, Vigil said.
One of Goodman's untitled pieces shows this with two boys wearing swim trunks, plugging their ears and screaming. Vigil included this photo to show how families were defined by healthy, happy children.
In addition to traditional family lifestyles, the exhibit also displays nontraditional family lifestyles, such as a picture of a homosexual couple, a couple that lives on a nudist colony and couples without children. Vigil said she chose photographs that looked at new
types of modern families.
Jon O'Neal's 1985 photo My Friend Greg Dies shows two homosexual men lying perpendicular to one another.
Photographers such as
New publication focuses coverage on community
O'Neal suggest that a family is not limited to blood relations but includes anyone who shares the love and warmth that have come to define a family, Vigil said.
By Chris Horton
Kansan staff writer
Reminiscent of the emergence of KAW 89.9 FM last year, a new politically charged community publication distributed its first issue Feb. 27
The Kaw Valley Independent is a semimonthly publication that provides the Lawrence community with information not available from local media, said Matt Caldwell, Lawrence senior and Independent staff member.
"We want to show people that they have choices with the media and to illustrate the power that the media has," Caldwell said.
The idea for the Independent was hatched last fall. A list of writers and contributors was created through word-of-mouth advertising at the University, Caldwell said.
"There is a wealth of knowledge at the University, and a lot of people who can write about a variety of issues," he said. "But it's a community paper, not a University paper, so we want to expand our staff to also include more Lawrence residents."
The first issue of the Independent was 16 pages that were printed at the Olathe Daily News.
The 10,000 copies cost $700 to print and were financed by staff members and local advertising. Future issues will cost about $700 and also will be printed in Olathe, Caldwell said.
Topics discussed in the first issue included the University's contract with Nike and the University of Kansas Medical Center's ban on abortion.
Caldwell said he saw the publication as a complement to Lawrence's community radio station. KAW-FM.
"They're both corporate-free, community oriented and motivated media," he said.
The Independent's progress has been smooth, said a staff member who is a KU doctoral candidate in history and former intern at The Village Voice and The Nation.
Kip Curtis, graduate teaching assistant in history, said he hoped the publication eventually would move from semimonthly to weekly status.
Curtis said that there was an information void in the local media and that city politics did not receive sufficient attention in local publications.
"The Kansan does a good job with campus politics," he said, "but it doesn't really cover city politics, and the Journal-World covers the interests of the Chamber of Commerce and developers."
"If someone wants to contribute, they should contact us and send us their stories." he said.
Curtis said that the *Independent* staff had received positive feedback about the first issue.
contact us and send us their stories, he said. Caldwell said Volume 1, Issue 2, of the Independent will be available Monday at locations throughout downtown Lawrence and on Sixth and 23rd streets. Featured stories will include Borders' anti-union activities and the University's association with Phillips 66, he said.
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