Ron Olin
Lawrence Police Officer, Counter-Terrorism Expert
Lawrence High School
1968
Inducted
2005
Shortly after Ron graduated from Lawrence High School, he joined the Lawrence Police Department while attending classes at The University of Kansas. He graduated from KU in 1975 with a degree in Education then earned a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Wichita State University. In 1980 he was promoted to Deputy Chief of Police in Lawrence.
In 1983 he earned a PhD from the University of Kansas in Developmental Psychology. In 1984 Ron attended the National Police Command College in Muenster, Germany. In 1987 he was promoted to the Lawrence Chief of Police a position he would hold for 23 years. He was the longest tenured Chief of Police among Kansas' 10 largest cities.
Ron is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy. He studied police organization, training, and response in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, and Israel.
He has been a faculty member and professor at the University of Kansas, Wichita State University and Haskell Indian Nations University.
He has been an instructor on police administration and emergency response at regional
police training centers and a consultant on police and emergency response to agencies
and corporations including Trans World Airlines, Santa Fe Railroad, Coronet Films, Airline Pilots Association, and others. He served on the IACP Terrorism Committee and a board member of the Interagency Board for Equipment Standardization and InterOperability - Sponsored by the FBI and Department of Defense.
He published articles in Police Chief Magazine and Homeland Protection Professional Magazine. He is considered an expert on terrorism. As such, he received numerous letters of appreciation from the Directors of the FBI and the Department of Justice.
Following his retirement from the Lawrence Police Department in 2010 he took a job as the Kansas Athletics' Director of Security/Internal Controls.
He holds a Black Belt in Shaolin-fu style Karate.
He has served on the local boards of:
• Women' Transitional Care Center
• The Shelter
• Heart of America Joint Terrorism Task Force
• Heart of America Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory Douglas County Community Corrections
• Douglas County Emergency Preparedness Douglas County Emergency 911 Board
• Central States Law Enforcement Executive Seminar, Inc.
![Ron Olin](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1cfb76_3c212354cc7e4a88ac5b10004fefdb86~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_392,h_392,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Image-empty-state_edited.jpg)