Two Lawrence police officers are suspended as authorities continue an investigation into whether they had a role in fixing traffic citations in exchange for University of Kansas basketball tickets.
The allegation involved a “handful” of traffic tickets for a former KU athletic official who is serving a federal prison sentence as part of a larger athletic ticket scandal, Lawrence Police Chief Tarik Khatib said Thursday.“In May 2011 the department received an anonymous letter alleging that several police officers had taken care of several traffic citations in exchange for KU tickets,” Khatib said. The chief said the department quickly referred the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City, Kan., and FBI personnel were assigned to the case. By January, the FBI had said that no crime was committed.However, the city has since placed the two officers on administrative leave while it determines if they violated the city’s gratuity policy. The policy forbids officers from accepting something for free that is not also readily free to the general public. Khatib said the investigation is “mostly complete but we’re not done.” Saying it was a personnel matter, the chief declined to release the officers’ names, rank or years of service. Nor would he say when the suspensions began. Khatib said he believes the process worked and he’s hopeful that citizens won’t let the acts of a few damage the department’s image.“We’re going to hold people accountable,” he said. “This is an isolated thing, and it shouldn’t besmirch the reputation of the rest of the fine men and women in the department that are out there doing a great job every day.”Authorities did not name the former athletic official who offered the basketball seats. But they did say it was one of the employees convicted of brokering tickets without permission. Seven employees were accused of conspiring to take more than $2 million worth of football and basketball tickets and then selling the tickets to brokers. Five of the seven were sentenced to prison.Read more University Of Kansas
Posted on Thu, Feb. 16, 2012 06:57 PM
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Two Lawrence police officers suspended amid inquiry related to KU ticket scandal
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To reach Dawn Bormann, call 816-234-7704 or send e-mail to dbormann@kcstar.com
