TOPEKA – Hays resident Thomas Runge was recognized for his service to crime victims today at the Crime Victims Rights Conference in Topeka.

Runge was presented the Criminal Justice Award by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt during an awards ceremony this afternoon. After retiring from High Plains Mental Health Center, Runge took on the challenge of developing a batterer intervention program for Northwest Kansas Community Corrections. That program is the only batterer intervention program in the 17 counties of Northwest Kansas. Runge has also assisted in starting other programs in Kansas, and has served on the committee that developed the Kansas Domestic Violence Offender Assessment and the Batterer Intervention Program Advisory Board.

The Kansas Crime Victims’ Rights Conference was hosted by Attorney General Schmidt and Gov. Sam Brownback. The conference featured a number of speakers and trainers focused on raising awareness of emerging crimes and offering new approaches to respond to enduring crimes, such as child abuse, domestic violence and human trafficking.