On Friday, Sept. 5, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the KBI Regional Crime Center and Laboratory in the Research and Development Park. This ceremony hosted five speakers to celebrate the momentous occasion: PSU Vice President Dr. Shawn Nacarrato, KBI Director Tony Mattivi, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, and PSU President Dr. Thomas Newsom.
Dr. Nacarrato gave the initial welcome speech and introduced the other speakers, along with a short list of thank-yous, recognitions, and ceremony guidelines due to the fact that the ceremony was held very close to railroad tracks.
Following the welcome speech, KBI Director Tony Mattivi was introduced and gave his speech, hitting guidelines that outlined the founding principles of the KBI and the significance of the new facility.
“One of the KBI’s founding principles is to support Kansas law enforcement. This new facility will embody that objective by creating a convergence of all law enforcements operating in the southeast Kansas region. We will readily support each other because we have an efficient space that regularly brings us all together. It’s a significant change and it’s going to make a significant difference.”
Mattivi also spoke on how the new facility will affect the students studying criminal justice.
“The innovative new facility will also serve as a catalyst for learning, bringing together law enforcement and forensic science professionals with students so that together they can address complex challenges that face the criminal justice community. KBI and Pittsburg State will work collectively to ensure students are provided invaluable real-world experiences. They will learn practical skills in the fields of forensic science and criminal justice that will prepare them for public safety careers in which they will have the privilege of making a difference in this community. Together, the KBI and the university will influence our next generation of forensic scientists and law enforcement leaders. Countless agencies and their leaders have worked together to make today possible.”
The next speaker was Sen. Moran, who spoke about exactly how much depends on the capabilities of secondary learning facilities and their output of new workforce employees.
“The future of our state is so dependent upon the capabilities of our universities, our community colleges, and our technical colleges being able to deliver a workforce to the businesses of our state. Those that are here currently and those that we are recruiting to come. Kansas’s future depends upon what happens at Pittsburg State University, and it’s certainly true in not only southeast Kansas, but across our state.”
Moran also spoke on how the new facility will bring numerous opportunities to both the university and the state as well as the direction of funding for law enforcement he plans to take.
“This is a great coming together. The role of the university and how valuable it is, no doubt, but what this expansion of KBI’s capabilities would not occur but for the role that the university is playing and is going to play. It also brings together economic growth, and opportunity, and jobs. It puts us in a position in which our state can be safer and more secure. When the thought among some in our country was, ‘Let’s defund the police,’ it became my mantle to become the person who led efforts in our state and across the country in funding the police for more security, for their security, and the community’s security. The idea of less funding for law enforcement is the wrong direction, and so we’ve utilized our position in funding at the Department of Justice.”
Attorney General Kobach spoke next, outlining the already declining crime rate in Kansas and the new facility’s ability to drop that number even further.
“You may have heard, the report just came out from KDI a couple months ago, that Kansas has the lowest crime rate in more than 20 years. It’s down to 23 crimes per 1,000 people per year, which beat our previous year’s average in 2023 of 27 crimes. And it’s way below the national average. The drop is way ahead of any national decline. We’re a really safe state to live in, and you can attribute that to many things. I think the number one reason is law enforcement in Kansas is really effective, and I’m talking about all law enforcement: the state troopers, the KBI, the sheriff’s offices, the local police. One of the reasons they are so effective is when they arrest someone and then when they assemble the evidence and the evidence is tested in a facility like this one, we make the case, and we get the conviction. I have no doubt that we will be able to push that crime index number even lower. This facility is going to be a part of that.”
Kobach also spoke on the influence the new facility will have on new and existing students when viewing it through tours or visiting a class with a friend.
“I know this from personal experience because I have five daughters. Our second oldest is 19 and she’s not going to college at Washburn – she’s actually at Hillsdale – but she has toured the facility on Washburn University’s campus. I was with her and saw her reaction, and it was just like, ‘this is incredible.’ And then a day later, she said, ‘Dad, I think I might be interested in maybe working for the KBI.’ Next thing you know, she wants to apply for an internship at the KBI, which she has never even talked about. But it was going to this incredible facility, seeing the scientists, seeing all the things that are happening in that facility that made a trip switch in her brain and said, ‘Hey, this might be something I want to do with my life.’”
The final speaker for the ceremony was the newly appointed president of Pittsburg State University, Dr. Newsom, who spoke on the impact this facility, and others like it, will have on students throughout the state of Kansas.
“There’s a lot of thought and intentionality that goes into an endeavor like this. The forethought the Kansas Bureau of Investigation had to place, the critical facilities like this one, and the Forensic Science Center at Washburn on their university campus really is remarkable. Our state is truly a better place for it, and all of our students across the state of Kansas are better for it.”
After all of the speeches, several state and university officials were able to be the first to break the ground where the facility will be built.