WILL SHE BE FAIR AND JUST

[guess who]

 what i want to know is if our new DOG CATCHER/CODE ENFORCEMENT/COP/MURPHY SUPPORTER   will be issuing tickets in a non biased manor or will she become a thorn in our side .  and why does longton need another expense......to me and this is only opinion...a liability to the city   just curious on what you think

[twirldoggy]

I think that no law enforcement officer should take sides in this matter.  They are employed to serve and protect all the citizens of the community. 

[guess who]

i agree completely with you they should be un biased but............it seems the way that she handled the situation at the park in public makes me a little concerned   i just hope she doesnt come at us with revenge on her mind and i am being open ...trying real hard to keep an open mind.........i guess well wait and see    i hope it works

[kshillbillys]

Just my 2 cents, because that's all it's worth: why does Longton need a city cop? We had Glen Blackburn as city marshal, they could not afford Glen Blackburn, so they laid him off. Then they all of a sudden have enough money to hire our new dog catcher, excuse me, city cop. Then they have enough money to buy her a patrol vehicle. She hasn't got it yet but she's trying to get a 4 wheel drive chevy truck with 200,000+ miles for $5,000. The city is worried about having enough money to last the rest of the year, so they didn't get bids to partition off a section of city hall as the new police station. Has anyone thought about if our dog catcher, excuse me, city cop, arrests somebody that our jail under the water tower is not really up to code? Maybe we'll have to get us a $2 million jail built like Sedan did. Speaking of which, Sedan houses their prisoners in Howard's jail. I may be wrong on this but I thought it was around $35 a day, but who pays this? The City of Longton or does the inmate pay this? And if he wins his case, does he still have to pay? Is the lightbar being donated for our new police vehicle? I sure hope that a lot of this is being donated. Is our dog kennel up to code or does someone need to contact the SPCA? Anyone thinking I wouldn't do that would be sadly mistaken. And, we just got our new ticket books for the city of Longton. Our new dog catcher, excuse me, city cop, was just tickled pink with anticipation of getting to fill them out. I would sure hate to see all these businessmen around here who have vehicles to be worked on, parts vehicles, junk in general sitting around their shops, getting tickets. But you know, fair is fair and if my yard don't look like the neighbors yard, I will be getting a ticket. There was a talk about an attorney that lives in town (mainly on weekends) that owns a couple of buildings, 3 or 4 houses north of the highway; but he's untouchable because he could tie it up in court for the next 20 years. I think he's just the kind of attorney that I'd like to have. Oh, I almost forgot, our new city cop will also have a radar gun. The most likely place to catch speeders would be on the highway where the sheriff's department already sits. So who gets that revenue, the city of Longton or the sheriff department? In this time of our bleak economy, does it really make sense to have hired a city cop for the city of Longton when there are already 3 sheriff's deputies and 2 reservists in town? Count with me people: this makes a total of 6 law enforcement in a town of just over 300. Moline has 2. Howard has 2. Grenola has none. Longton has 6. I was unaware that Longton was crime central and surely credit to her does not look favorable when you back a pedofile wannabe, talk about what goes on in executive session with the school board; i'm only assuming her husband had told her what went on, otherwise how would she have got the information? And talk with others about her great arrests or helping out on arrests prior to their conviction here in Longton. Just my 2 cents, ain't worth a plug nickel, but I'm fed up with the shit going on in this town.---Mr. Robert L. Walker

P.S. to my 2 cents: If our new law enforcement officer neat police is working at the school, don't know how many hours she's getting but just say 40 for the sake of argument, when does she find time to put in 30+ hours for the city of Longton? Seems like a little double dipping and that'll leave a bad taste in your mouth.

[beavis 1972]

how bout a ambulance crew

[Janet Harrington]

Robert, The only thing that I will address is who gets the revenue on the tickets that are written?  First of all, when the sheriff's office writes tickets and then those tickets are either pled to or found guilty in court.  When those fines are collected by the Elk County District Court, that money goes to the state.  Unless the law has changed, the only money that comes back to Elk County is money for the law library.  Some of the fine money does go to the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center for training.

Now, tickets written by a city officer is a different story.  That fine money is paid into the city and (I believe) the only money that the city does not retain is the amount that is required to be sent to the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center.  That used to be about $10 or $15. I will have to do some research to see how much that is.

Below I have copied and pasted the Kansas Statute that tells what qualifies a person as a law enforcement officer.  Just FYI.

74-5602:   g)   "Police officer" or "law enforcement officer" means a full-time or part-time salaried officer or employee of the state, a county or a city, whose duties include the prevention or detection of crime and the enforcement of the criminal or traffic laws of this state or of any municipality thereof. Such terms shall include, but not be limited to, the sheriff, undersheriff and full-time or part-time salaried deputies in the sheriff's office in each county; deputy sheriffs deputized pursuant to K.S.A. 19-2858 and amendments thereto; conservation officers of the Kansas department of wildlife and parks; university police officers, as defined in K.S.A. 22-2401a, and amendments thereto; campus police officers, as defined in K.S.A. 22-2401a, and amendments thereto; law enforcement agents of the director of alcoholic beverage control; law enforcement agents designated by the secretary of revenue pursuant to K.S.A. 2009 Supp. 75-5157, and amendments thereto; law enforcement agents of the Kansas lottery; law enforcement agents of the Kansas racing commission; deputies and assistants of the state fire marshal having law enforcement authority; capitol police, existing under the authority of K.S.A. 75-4503 and amendments thereto; and law enforcement officers appointed by the adjutant general pursuant to K.S.A. 48-204, and amendments thereto. Such terms shall also include railroad policemen appointed pursuant to K.S.A. 66-524 and amendments thereto; school security officers designated as school law enforcement officers pursuant to K.S.A. 72-8222 and amendments thereto; and the director of the Kansas commission on peace officers' standards and training and any other employee of such commission designated by the director pursuant to K.S.A. 74-5603, and amendments thereto, as a law enforcement officer. Such terms shall not include any elected official, other than a sheriff, serving in the capacity of a law enforcement or police officer solely by virtue of such official's elected position; any attorney-at-law having responsibility for law enforcement and discharging such responsibility solely in the capacity of an attorney; any employee of the commissioner of juvenile justice, the secretary of corrections or the secretary of social and rehabilitation services; any deputy conservation officer of the Kansas department of wildlife and parks; or any employee of a city or county who is employed solely to perform correctional duties related to jail inmates and the administration and operation of a jail; or any full-time or part-time salaried officer or employee whose duties include the issuance of a citation or notice to appear provided such officer or employee is not vested by law with the authority to make an arrest for violation of the laws of this state or any municipality thereof, and is not authorized to carry firearms when discharging the duties of such person's office or employment. Such term shall include any officer appointed or elected on a provisional basis.

[Janet Harrington]

Okay.  Here is the break down of what traffic fines that are sent to the state pays for.  I took this off of the Kansas Highway Patrol website.  This break down applies to sheriff's office, also, but not to municipalities.

Traffic Citations
The fines for traffic infractions are set uniformly by the Kansas Legislature.

All traffic fines collected by district (county) courts are remitted to the state treasury, and are destributed in the following manner:

11.99% to the crime victims compensation fund;
2.45% to the crime victims assistance fund;
3.01% to the community alcoholism and intoxication programs fund;
2.01% to the department of corrections alcohol and drug abuse treatment fund;
0.17% to the boating fee fund;
0.12% to the children's advocacy center fund;
2.50% to the EMS revolving fund;
2.50% to the trauma fund;
2.50% to the traffic records enhancement fund;
The remainder to the state general fund.
No money collected from traffic fines directly finances the operation of the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Drivers issued notices to appear are required to appear in the district court of the county where the violation occurred or pay the uniform state fine and court costs prior to the court date. Fines for traffic infractions are set by state law and are uniform in all 105 Kansas counties. State law doubles fines for violations occurring in highway construction zones, regardless of whether workers are present.

In addition to traffic fines, the driver is responsible for paying state-mandated court costs, which are set uniformly by the Kansas Legislature

[kshillbillys]

Thank you Janet. I didn't mean for you to go through that much work in looking that up, as I wasn't questioning her abilties to be a cop. She does in fact have a degree in criminal psychology. I am sure she can talk down everyone around here who is high on PCP or LSD or she's probably good in the various hostage situations that we have. As  I had stated, why in the hell do we need another cop in this town? If Doug would visit the town more often he would see that the crime rate really isn't that high to need 6 officers in this town. Thanks again!--Robert

[rain132]

I'm not sure if you guys are aware of the fact that the "city dog catcher" already made a drug bust in Longton. Something the other doughnut chasers have yet to do!

[kshillbillys]

We were very aware that she made or was part of a drug bust. Her mother was talking about it here on the Elk County Forum. So apparently she heard it straight from her daughter with details of the drug bust that are not made public. I hear that there are such things are confidentiality due to prosecution by the county attorney, who is not very pleased with the running of the mouth that the city dog catcher has done. Has anyone got a handcuff key for her mouth? Thank you....--Mr. Kshillbilly