City announces candidate for Chief of Lawrence Kansas Police Department

Kevin PowellCity, City Manager, Human Resources, Police

City Manager Craig Owens announced a candidate for the final stage of the Police Chief recruitment process for the Lawrence Kansas Police Department: Rich Lockhart. Lockhart is currently the police chief for the Warrensburg, Missouri Police Department. He previously served a 26-year career with the Kansas City, Missouri police department before retiring in 2016.

The City is hosting a public meet-and-greet as an opportunity for our community members to visit with Lockhart. The reception will be at Lawrence Public Library from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 18.

For the position, the City underwent a national recruitment effort led by Ralph Andersen Associates, a nationwide executive recruitment firm. More information on Lockhart is available in his bio below.

Contact: Porter Arneill, Director of Communications and Creative Resources, parneill@lawrenceks.org

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Rich Lockhart is the police chief for the Warrensburg Police Department. He started with Warrensburg in April 2016 after a 26-year police career with the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department. Chief Lockhart held the rank of major with the KCPD at the time of his retirement, having worked in various assignments within the department, including human resources, patrol, special operations, and research and development. He was the department spokesperson for more than eight years, conducting hundreds of inter-views with local, national, and international media. Chief Lockhart has a master’s de-gree in public administration from the University of Kansas and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harding University. In his off-duty time, Chief Lockhart enjoys photography and classic cars. He and his wife Laura have seven kids and live in Warrensburg.