Officer Dallas Hunt chose to come to Eudora for the small-town feel and the connections he felt he could make with residents." />
Officer Dallas Hunt chose to come to Eudora for the small-town feel and the connections he felt he could make with residents.
There was one major selling point when Officer Dallas Hunt chose to join the Eudora Police Department: They were one big family.
“I chose the people over the money,” Hunt said.
After a two-year career as an officer at the University of Kansas between January 2021 and January 2023, Hunt joined the Eudora Police Department earlier this year.
The major difference between the two jobs is a student setting versus a city setting.
Hunt was born in Hays but grew up in Lawrence. He attended Fort Hays State University.
During his career at the University of Kansas, Hunt won two awards: a lifesaving award for performing CPR on a professor and an accommodation award for helping a student struck by a car on Engel Road.
At KU, Hunt said he placed a big emphasis on suicidal awareness and talking to someone when help is needed.
Hunt left KU so he could grow as an officer, he said.
Hunt chose Eudora because he likes the small-town feel and the connections he can make with residents. He likes that he can get to know people on a personal basis.
“Like Lawrence, it’s just another person you run into. Here, you actually are connected,” Hunt said. “You know them, you know their background, you know their story. So when something happens you can work with them better and figure out a better alternative.”
Police Chief Wes Lovett said Hunt does a good job communicating and fitting in with different communities.
“He grew up in Hays, Kansas, for the most part, until high school, so he’s had that mixture of a smaller town and a little bit bigger town with Lawrence,” Lovett said.
Lovett said Hunt is smart and motivated to work hard.
“For somebody that’s been in this profession for a couple years, he’s still really eager,” Lovett said. “He finished our field training program quicker than anybody who’s ever finished it since I’ve been here.”
Hunt typically works the night shift and maintains the same sleep schedule whether he’s working or not.
Hunt sets goals for every shift, whether it be introducing himself to a set amount of people or making a specific amount of traffic stops, he said.
“I’m not someone that can sit around and collect a paycheck,” Hunt said.
Hunt also places a huge emphasis on treating people with respect.
“It costs me zero cents to be nice every day,” Hunt said.
His two major goals are to become a K9 officer and a school resource officer.
Reach reporter Caroline Zimmerman at [email protected]