Downtown Lawrence patrol officers fight proposed budget cut

Eric Dawson and Taylor Zook spent part of a downtown Lawrence shift moving from one small problem to the next: a report of someone burning clothes in a park bathroom, a disturbance in South Park, business check-ins and conversations with unhoused residents who may need help. That mix of calls is exactly why the officers say the downtown patrol unit matters, and why they are pushing back now that the Lawrence Police Department has identified it as a possible budget cut for 2027.

The officers’ work goes far beyond the phrase “foot patrol” suggests. Police spokeswoman Laura McCabe said the label is misleading because the downtown officers use whatever travel method fits the situation, including bikes or a patrol truck. On a given day, the unit can function as a visible presence on the sidewalk, a fast response for low-level disorder or a bridge between downtown merchants, park users and people in crisis.

That flexibility is the point of the job, Dawson and Zook said through their day in the city core. In downtown Lawrence, where restaurants, shops, office workers, students and visitors all mix with people sleeping outside or moving through the area, the officers said their role is not limited to enforcement. They are often the first faces on scene when something starts to disrupt foot traffic or make a business district feel less settled.

The budget fight now pulls that day-to-day work into a larger city debate. Lawrence leaders were already discussing the 2027 budget in early May, when the city’s preliminary spending plan included an approximately 3-mill property tax increase tied to Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical’s Station 6 expansion in northwest Lawrence. That proposal landed after the city projected a $6.5 million budget hole in the 2026 cycle, a shortfall that forced commissioners to weigh cuts across departments.

City budget materials say Lawrence relies primarily on property tax and sales tax, and that slower revenue growth has made it harder to keep public expectations and available money in balance. In that context, the downtown patrol unit has become one more line item under pressure, even as police and city officials debate what happens when visible, relationship-based public safety work disappears from the city center.

Lt. Amy Rhoads told the City Commission during the 2027 budget discussion, “Public safety is not one-sided, and it should not be funded that way.” Her warning echoed the concern from downtown officers, who say cutting the unit would not just reduce police presence. It would also remove a layer of problem-solving that helps keep disturbances from turning into longer-lasting disorder.

The issue also ties into Lawrence’s homelessness response. The city’s 2025 budget kept funding for outreach, case management and emergency shelter, including 125 beds at the Lawrence Community Shelter campus, 50 beds at The Village and 32 new beds with Pallet 32. City materials describe the Lawrence Community Shelter as the only low-barrier emergency shelter serving people experiencing homelessness in Lawrence and Douglas County, which helps explain why downtown officers so often move between enforcement, referral and crisis response.

As Engage Lawrence sessions and other public input efforts continue on the 2027 budget, the downtown patrol proposal has become a test of what Lawrence wants its core to feel like: more distant and reactive, or more visible, responsive and on the ground where merchants and visitors notice the difference first.