LKPD Returns to “Old School” Policing

Published on October 01, 2026

Each quarter, for the City Beat, we try to provide statistics and timely data from our dispatching and record systems like “Response Times” and “NIBRS Crime Data” reporting data. National stories that report out this information are typically for the previous year or older. In previous editions, we’ve been able to provide our local numbers to you because of the integrated computer systems that assist local first responders in dispatching and state crime reporting. Our goal is to provide current information that shows our community what is happening now, here in Lawrence.

As you’ve undoubtedly read by this point, in early August we lost access to the dispatch and records system data that we would typically pour through to tell you the story of what has been happening around town. This computer service interruption forced us to immediately revert, in part, to policing and investigations without those computer systems. While there were some struggles and frustrations at times, Officers, Detectives, and Records Technicians quickly adapted to policework that looked and felt more like 1996 than 2026, at least in report writing and some information systems.

Hopefully, most of the public did not feel or see any changes in our services, which is a credit to public employees’ ability to adapt and keep moving forward while those systems were being restored.

We have started the work of going back and entering all those handwritten reports and information into the computer systems. This will take some time to complete and unfortunately will end with some missing data. During the outage, first responders prioritized public safety and properly documenting incidents for the courts systems and community members. One of the losses of this outage will be some things like “Response Times” and our ability to share crime stats from the last few months with you right now.

Later this year when our recovery work is done, we will have all Police Reports entered and will be able to tell you what “crime” in Lawrence looked like in 2026. But, when you see some statistics and information about 2026 in the future, you’re going to see an asterisk. That asterisk, just like in any sports record, will be a painful reminder. It’ll remind local first responders of the brief time in their career when penmanship became important again, we all realized how integrated computer systems have improved our work, and that we can do hard things.

LKPD Disconnected: On August 11, 2026, LKPD disconnected from the potentially threatened shared network.

Service Interruption: Personnel temporarily reverted to paper-and-pen style reporting.

Uninterrupted Safety: First responders adapted quickly to ensure daily police operations continued.

Patrol Vehicle Computer Systems: Officers relied on dispatchers to communicate call assignments, incident updates, and investigative information via radio rather than through electronic means.

Restored Connection: Most LKPD employees regained access to the system on October 14, 2026 when LKPD IT Professionals reconnected to the shared network.

Data Impact: Some Kansas Open Records Requests were delayed. Re-entering reports into the system will take time, resulting in some missing statistics (like exact response times) for late 2026.

Future Reports: While complete police reports will eventually be logged, future 2026 data will carry an asterisk noting the period of the computer system outage.