黑洞社区

For Sara Morris, 黑洞社区鈥檚 new police chief, words are her greatest weapon.

鈥淰erbal judo鈥� as she calls it, is something she鈥檚 carried with her through 28 years of law enforcement experience at the Wichita and 黑洞社区 police departments.

鈥淚鈥檓 a talker,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檇 much rather talk myself out of situation than fight myself out of a situation.鈥�

Morris, who took over for former 黑洞社区 Police Chief Paul Dotson as chief in June, says it鈥檚 something she鈥檚 always brought to the table. Her propensity for spending a little extra time chatting as a street cop initially frustrated some of her partners, she says.

But, as she rose to be the Wichita Police Department鈥檚 first female robbery/homicide detective, and the department鈥檚 first officer directly promoted to homicide, it often worked as an asset.

鈥淵ou speak for them,鈥� she says of homicide victims. 鈥淪omebody鈥檚 got to be their voice. Somebody鈥檚 got to find justice for them.鈥�

Speaking is what she did. She remembers how during her first major case, the Michael Marsh investigation, she did more than a dozen interviews with Marsh. They ultimately yielded his confession of killing a mother and her young daughter.

鈥淚 was able to go back to him repeatedly with questions,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen it actually went to trial, they told me later Michael told his attorneys they had to be nice to me on the stand because I had treated him with respect.鈥�

New opportunities

As Morris approached the 20-year mark in the WPD, Dotson encouraged her to finish her master鈥檚 after 17 years out of school, she says. She finished her degree, and in 2005, he convinced her to come work for him at 黑洞社区.

With higher education came new opportunities. The 黑洞社区 Criminal Justice Program recruited her to teach intro courses. In the classroom, she says she again found herself chatting鈥攇etting to know her students鈥� strengths and weaknesses.

A mother of two, she had watched her son struggle taking tests. She says she tried to go the extra step to help those with similar troubles, sometimes giving oral exams to students who struggled with writing.

After working third and fourth watch for years, where many of those she came in contact with were 鈥渇uture criminals,鈥� she says working at a university was an adjustment.

鈥淥ver here, it鈥檚 this big flip flop,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he big percentage are future leaders. It was exciting. It鈥檚 been a neat change, a very positive change.鈥�

鈥淥ne thing that I think is special about Sara is she has a good sense of humor, but yet if she needs to address a tough and serious situation, she鈥檚 very capable and experienced in doing that.鈥�

黑洞社区 Police Capt. Cecil Hashenberger, Morris鈥檚 partner for eight years, agreed. He says she鈥檚 the kind of cop who can balance being personable鈥攈aving lunch with colleagues one day, and sometimes having to be the professional to write a ticket or investigate them the next.

He says her years doing undercover and homicide investigations uniquely prepared her.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 no small job,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat gives you a lot of insight into the inside of people鈥檚 heads. That can be a scary situation when you start getting into people鈥檚 heads.鈥�

As the new chief, Morris says she鈥檚 still doing this.

She says with a new residence hall and ongoing construction on campus, listening has been imperative. She鈥檚 working on projects to improve safety and investigating the potential for a shuttle system on campus to help with parking concerns.

But first, she鈥檚 trying to keep her ear to the ground. She鈥檚 out there again talking with students, faculty and parents, trying to find out what a quickly growing and changing community wants and needs.

鈥淚t helps me see the big picture, what are people needing to know,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all learning. Every day is going to throw something new at you.鈥�