Thursday, May 10, 2007
Mark Leisten graduated from the University in 1996 and has served as a Lawrence police officer for 11 years. “I try to be the nicest cop in town,” he says.
Lawrence will soon see thousands of students pack up and leave for the summer. Mark Leisten will just see fewer cars.
“Other than the traffic, you really don’t notice,” Leisten, a Lawrence police officer, says about the students’ departure.
Leisten currently works from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., meaning he doesn’t experience this town’s vibrant nightlife during his shifts. That will change in October, however, when he begins working during the wee hours of the morning from midnight to 7 a.m. Many officers rotate schedules every few months, Leisten says.
Leisten has patrolled the streets of Lawrence for 11 years. When classes let out for the three-month break, he says the only real change he’s seen in the past while working the late shift comes after the sun goes down, when Lawrence transforms from hot spot into ghost town.
Since 1996, Leisten, 38, has been reporting for duty for the same reason he became a police officer in the first place: to help people.
But it’s also the simple things that keep Leisten coming back each day.
And although law enforcement is serious work, Leisten says he tries to keep a sense of humor.
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The Lawrence Police Department: A Timeline
1866: first mention of a “police department” in Lawrence
Late 1800s: first Lawrence Police Department building established, where City Hall stands today
1910–1920: department consists of two cars and four officers working for $85 a month each
1936: uniforms purchased for officers
1959: 22 total officers working seven straight days followed by one off day. Starting pay is $225 a month
1976: police department moves into its current location, 111 E. 11th St.
Today: 138 commissioned officers and 41 civilian officers
Source: www.lawrencepolice.org
He enjoys the freedom he has and says he doesn’t have to worry about what he’s going to wear in the morning.
“I don’t think I could work behind a desk,” he says.
“You’ve got to come to work and have fun every day,” Leisten says. “Once you start hating it, that’s when you make it long and miserable for everybody.”
Days that Leisten can always count on for fun come at the beginning of each school year during move-in week.
Take a bunch of one-way streets, add hundreds of people who aren’t familiar with the area and laughter will surely ensue.
The sight of someone driving the wrong way on a one-way street puts a smile on Leisten’s face every time, he says.
“That just cracks me up,” he says.
Perhaps no other time of year is Lawrence more obviously a college town than when students come back to campus to begin the fall semester.
But Leisten says that usually Lawrence is just like any other town; it just happens to have about 25,000 students living in it.
Leisten graduated from the University of Kansas in 1996 with a degree in crime and delinquency.
His path to graduation wasn’t a straight one, as he left the University and joined the Army Reserves after one year of college.
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From Badge to Fatigues
Lawrence Police Officer Mark Leisten served in Iraq from March 2003 to May 2004 as a flight platoon leader and piloted a Chinook helicopter, in which he recorded more than 350 hours of combat flight time, he says. Leisten is still in the Army Reserves and has reached the status of Captain.
Leisten shares his war experience with another Lawrence police officer, Charles Cottengim, who fought with Leisten in Iraq.
“He had to make hard decisions, stand up and be the bad guy,” Cottengim says of Leisten’s leadership in Iraq. “Even though they hated him for it, it was the right thing to do.” Doing the right thing, no matter how unpopular it might be, is a quality that Leisten tries to display as a police officer, he says.
With a greater sense of discipline and a more structured life thanks to the military, Leisten returned to the University and earned his degree by completing three 20–22 hour semesters and taking summer classes, he says.
“The military pretty much turned my life around,” Leisten says.
Patrolling the streets all day, Leisten gets a sense of how much Lawrence has changed over the years. He remembers when Kasold Drive was considered “way, way out there.” Now, he sees housing and developments inching closer to Clinton Lake, he says.
But some things about this college town never change.
Although underage drinking and raucous parties are two things he’s forced to deal with, Leisten makes an effort to be lenient, he says.
Some situations, however, call for a more stern approach.
“If I walk up to a house with 500 people, party’s over,” Leisten says.
But a gathering of 15 or 20 friends who might have the music up a bit too loud won’t be a big problem, he says.
“I try to be the nicest cop in town.”
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Comments
Lawrence 911
Um hello, why not interview the KU officers consdiering they are the ones on campus and deal with students the most often.
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