| Essential Duties/Responsibilities: |
Leadership and Department Administration Provides executive leadership, strategic direction, and administrative oversight for the Department of Public Safety and University police operations. Develops and implements departmental plans, priorities, goals, policies, and objectives consistent with the University's mission and strategic priorities. Plans, directs, and evaluates departmental operations, staffing, organizational structure, programs, services, budgets, and resource allocation. Recruits, develops, supervises, evaluates, and, when necessary, disciplines departmental personnel in accordance with University policies, collective bargaining agreements, and employment requirements. Develops a departmental culture emphasizing professionalism, integrity, service, accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and respect for the campus community. Ensures departmental personnel receive appropriate training to maintain required certifications and remain current with evolving laws, practices, technologies, and professional standards. Uses operational data, crime and incident trends, and other measures to evaluate performance and inform staffing, deployment, resources, and improvement initiatives. Advises the Vice President for Administration and Finance and other University leaders regarding public safety risks, emerging issues, operations, and recommended strategies. Law Enforcement and Campus Safety: Provides executive oversight of law enforcement operations, including patrol, criminal investigations, crime prevention, traffic and parking enforcement, event security, and other public safety activities. Ensures applicable laws and ordinances are appropriately and consistently enforced and coordinates activities with local, state, and federal law enforcement and emergency response agencies. Oversees criminal and other investigations within the University's jurisdiction and coordinates special investigations and services as necessary. Maintains systems of professional accountability, including review of use-of-force incidents, complaints, internal investigations, officer conduct, policy compliance, and corrective action. Ensures departmental policies, training, equipment, and practices comply with legal requirements and recognized professional law enforcement standards. Provides public safety planning and operational oversight for major University events, including athletic events, commencement, student activities, demonstrations, dignitary visits, and other events requiring coordinated security, traffic, or emergency planning. Community Policing and University Engagement: Promotes community-oriented policing emphasizing prevention, service, communication, education, relationship-building, and collaborative problem solving. Builds trust and productive relationships with students, faculty, staff, families, University leadership, surrounding communities, and other stakeholders. Collaborates across the University to identify safety concerns, develop prevention strategies, and coordinate institutional responses, including partnerships with departments involved in campus safety and student well-being. Participates in University committees, working groups, outreach, and educational initiatives involving campus safety, emergency preparedness, student well-being, and related priorities. Communicates proactively with the campus community and ensures accurate and timely information during significant incidents and emergencies. Serves as a liaison with internal and external constituencies regarding law enforcement, crime prevention, public safety, and emergency preparedness. Emergency Management and Preparedness: Leads the University's emergency management and preparedness program and serves as the University's Emergency Management Coordinator. Coordinates development, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of emergency operations plans and response protocols. Coordinates emergency preparedness training, exercises, and tabletop activities to strengthen institutional readiness. Provides leadership during emergencies and critical incidents and supports appropriate incident command and emergency operations structures. Coordinates emergency planning and response with University departments and external emergency response partners. Participates in continuity and institutional resilience planning and coordinates after-action reviews following significant incidents and exercises. Threat Assessment and Violence Prevention: Provides law enforcement expertise to University behavioral intervention, threat assessment, and violence-prevention processes. Collaborates with appropriate University offices to identify, assess, manage, and respond to potential threats and support prevention and early-intervention strategies. Regulatory Compliance and Reporting: Ensures departmental compliance with federal and state laws and applicable regulatory, reporting, records-management, and law enforcement requirements. Oversees University public safety responsibilities under the Clery Act, including the Annual Security Report, crime reporting and recordkeeping, emergency notifications, and timely warnings. Coordinates with the University's FOIA Coordinator, General Counsel, and other appropriate offices on FOIA requests involving police reports, security video, and other Public Safety records, ensuring timely identification, preservation, and production of responsive records. Maintains appropriate confidentiality and security of University, student, personnel, and law enforcement information. Maintains knowledge of laws applicable to higher education public safety, including the Clery Act, Higher Education Opportunity Act, FERPA, FOIA, and other relevant requirements. Security Technology and Infrastructure Provides leadership and operational input regarding University security infrastructure and public safety technology. Collaborates with Information Technology, Facilities Management, and other departments regarding video surveillance, electronic access control, emergency notification, communications, dispatch, and other security technologies. Evaluates public safety technologies and recommends investments to improve campus safety, operational effectiveness, officer safety, and emergency preparedness. Participates in developing policies, protocols, and standards governing public safety and security technologies. Parking, Transportation, and Traffic Safety: Provides executive oversight of University parking enforcement, traffic management, and related public safety responsibilities. Develops and recommends parking and traffic policies and ensures appropriate enforcement. Collaborates with University departments and external partners to address pedestrian, vehicle, bicycle, and other transportation safety concerns. Coordinates traffic and parking management for major campus events. Operates a university or personal vehicle safely while carrying out job responsibilities. Will authorize, pursuant to university policies and procedures, a driving record check, and will meet the driving authorization requirements through the course of employment in a position where you are authorized to drive a vehicle as part of your duties. Carries out responsibilities in accordance with university policies and applicable laws. Cultivates an environment of belonging that values, respects, supports, and celebrates individual similarities and differences, allowing students, faculty, and staff to thrive authentically. Support, promote, and develop university student enrollment and retention initiatives. Any other duties assigned within the position classification area. Must be able to respond to the Big Rapids campus within a reasonable timeframe when required for significant emergencies, critical incidents, or other circumstances requiring the Chief's on-site presence.
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| Skills and Abilities: |
Demonstrated executive leadership ability and sound judgment, particularly in complex, sensitive, high-risk, or highly visible situations. Demonstrated ability to lead, develop, motivate, and hold accountable a professional law enforcement and public safety workforce. Demonstrated commitment to integrity, professionalism, ethical leadership, transparency, and accountability. Demonstrated understanding of contemporary community-oriented policing practices and their application within a college or university environment. Demonstrated ability to build trust, establish productive relationships, and work collaboratively across organizational boundaries, including with students, employees, University leadership, community organizations, and local, state, and federal public safety partners. Strong interpersonal and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with diverse audiences and explain complex or sensitive public safety matters clearly. Ability to communicate effectively with University leadership, the campus community, families, media, and external partners during emergencies and other critical incidents. Demonstrated ability to effectively manage conflict, complaints, sensitive personnel matters, and community concerns. Demonstrated ability to lead organizational change, develop employees, strengthen organizational culture, and implement continuous improvement initiatives. Demonstrated ability to balance the educational mission and student-centered environment of a university with the University's responsibility to provide effective law enforcement and public safety services. Extensive working knowledge of law enforcement operations, criminal investigations, crime prevention, emergency response, emergency preparedness, traffic safety, and security practices. Working knowledge of applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations and their application within a higher education environment. Working knowledge of the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and its application to law enforcement records, security video footage, and other public safety records. Demonstrated ability to appropriately maintain, protect, and preserve sensitive law enforcement, video, personnel, student, and institutional records and support their lawful disclosure in accordance with applicable laws and University procedures. Demonstrated knowledge of emergency management principles, incident command structures, crisis response, and interagency coordination. Ability to analyze crime, incident, staffing, operational, and other relevant data and use the information to guide departmental strategies, resource allocation, and decision-making. Demonstrated administrative and organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities, projects, and responsibilities. Ability to appropriately manage confidential and sensitive law enforcement, personnel, student, and institutional information. Demonstrated understanding of contemporary issues, emerging practices, and evolving expectations affecting campus policing and public safety. Demonstrated ability to work effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives and foster an environment of dignity, fairness, respect, and inclusion. Demonstrated successful experience working directly with people from diverse backgrounds, including cultural, educational, socioeconomic, and life experiences. |
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