Anthony Maness believes most of the problems found in the criminal justice system can be remedied by education and training.
“I’ve worked really hard on the law enforcement side to dive into that,” he said.
That meant working as a training officer during much of his career as an officer and detective. He dreamed of one day working as an instructor for the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center at Hutchinson, but figured that would come closer to the final stage of his career.
“The way it usually works, you’re a cop for your entire career and then you go into teaching,” he said.
Maness got a jumpstart on that goal this fall when he became the Criminal Justice Studies program coordinator at Allen Community College.
“I think I’m supposed to make a difference now,” he said.
MANESS grew up in Iola and has centered his career here as well.
His first job, at 15, was working at A&W for his future father-in-law, Jim Gribble. He and wife, Sherise, have two sons, Michael, 14, and Caleb, 7. Sherise works for Allen as an online adjunct professor for early childhood education and teaches first grade in Chanute.
At age 18, Maness joined the Iola Police Department’s reserve program as a volunteer.
“It gave me an opportunity to make sure law enforcement was what I wanted to do and it gave them a chance to make sure I was somebody they would consider hiring,” he said.
He was hired as a dispatcher in 2001 before joining the police department. Over the next decade, he worked on patrol, investigations and the Special Response Team. He was a night shift lieutenant when he left to join the Allen County Sheriff’s Department in 2011.
He worked there as a detective and chief deputy until leaving for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in January 2020.
Throughout his career, Maness also worked to educate himself. He attended Allen before going on to earn a bachelor’s and then master’s degree. He’s currently working on his doctorate in instructional design through Baker University, in hopes of improving the criminal justice system from the inside out.
MANESS said Allen’s program aligns well with his teaching philosophy. He also plans to encourage more students to take in-person rather than online classes.
A hands-on approach helps students to better process and investigate crime scenes. He even has a couple of mannequins to help him.
