'A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS FEATURE
...
MONDAY, NOV.5, 2001
An evening with the Lawrence Police Department
Police officers search for evidence and gather information in an alley downtown after a complaint early Saturday morning. On weekend nights, police are often called in to deal with the many disturbances that arise as people gradually filter out of various bars and clubs.
a routine Saturday night sees purse theft, car fire on downtown streets
By Courtney Craigmile Kansan staff writer
The voice came across the scanner. "I need someone to the alley behind the Granada."
Department
A girl in front of the Granada,
1020 Massachusetts St., flagged down another officer because someone had stolen her purse.
Officer Doug Payne flipped his lights and sirens on, sped up across Massachusetts Street and swung the patrol car around the corner into the alley off 11th Street.
It was 2 a.m. Saturday; a routine night for the Lawrence Police Department.
When Payne arrived on the scene, the suspect, a male in his early 20s, was already in hand-cuffs. He told the group of three officers that he had dumped the contents of the purse in "the second dumpster" in the alley. The problem? Four dumpsters were in the alley.
Payne, along with two other officers who had been talking with the victim in front of the Granada, searched the dumpsters and found a make-up bag that belonged to the victim.
Seventeen officers from the Lawrence Police Department were patrolling the city Saturday night.
And despite the purse snatching, it was a slow night, Payne said.
The evening began around midnight, when Payne met up with three other officers to head to the streets. Their first job was to visit three fraternity and sorority parties where alcohol was going to be served. These "catered events" often led to a few minor in possession citations, and Saturday was no exception.
Two MIPs were given out, and one person was cited for interference with the duties of a police officer.
Next, he sat in the Conoco gas station parking lot across from Bada Bing on North Second Street. He was there as an "intimidation factor." Payne said. Sometimes the girls from Bada Bing, a strip club, would come to the station when they got off work. He was there to prevent trouble.
As the night progressed, the jokes between the officers picked up over the radio.
After that, Payne drove around North Lawrence. He was considered an extra car that night, so he had no specific section of town to patrol.
patrol.
Payne decided to drive through Riverfront Park, on the edge of town off North Second Street, to see who was there after hours.
starting, and Payne received a call regarding a noise complaint in the 900 block of Maine Street. He drove by the house, but nothing was out of the ordinary, so he didn't stop.
The after-hours parties were
"Just a little early morning humor to get you going for a few more hours," Payne said.
"It all a judgment call," Payne said about deciding whether to stop. "Really, I just wish these people would go to bed. It's late."
Then the voice came over the scanner again.
The officers, who work from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., use the third radio frequency, the one reserved for getting information from the dispatch officer, to joke around with one another.
Payne drove to the fire, this time with no lights or sirens.
"There is a car fully engulfed in the 600 block of Illinois," it said
The Lawrence Fire Department was already on the scene and attempting to put the fire out.
"When the tires explode it sounds like a bomb went off," Payne said. "You don't know what hit you."
By now, it was 4:30 a.m., and
Payne still hadn't taken a break.
One of the officers was at Haskell Indian Nations University trying to track down a female student whose car had been vandalized. Payne went to help find the student and to see if the car suspect drove away in was also in the Haskell parking lot.
When he got inside the student's residence hall, the resident assistant took him to the woman's room. He didn't find the woman, but he found her roommate busy with someone else.
It was a little embarrassing, but the officers just laughed it off.
Contact Craigmile at 864-4810
It was just another routine call on an early Saturday morning.
A member of the Lawrence Police Department interrogates
AARON SHOWALTER/KANSAN
Lawrence resident Mike Layton. Police were responding Friday night to an alleged pursnatching that took place at the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St.
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