DPS searches for new director

The search advisory committee to replace Department of Public Safety Director Leo Heatley is currently sifting through a stack of more than 100 applications to find the right person for the job.

"We're very pleased with the applications we have received and the candidates we have interviewed," committee chair Sue Ellen Scarnecchia said. "We have a very diverse pool of applicants."

Heatley is noted for transforming DPS to a full-fledged campus police department in the 19 years he served on the force. DPS was officially deputized in 1990 when the University Board of Regents voted to give officers the authority to make arrests and carry weapons.

The committee is at the preliminary interview stage of its search process. The members plan to select a slate of three to five candidates from the larger pool of applicants, said Scarnecchia, the Law School's associate dean for clinical affairs. The slate will then be submitted to interim associate Vice President for Business Operations Henry Baier for the final hiring decision. Associate DPS Director Jim Smiley currently is filling Heatley's post temporarily.

Committee members said they are optimistic that they will be able to produce a candidate by the end of April, Scarnecchia said. Baier is planning to make the final decision by early June. It is too early at this stage to announce the names of potential candidates, she said.

"A very high priority is to find someone who can maintain the high quality of the personnel of DPS," Scarnecchia said, adding that DPS employees have a high level of education and training.

The committee is looking for "community-based leadership," Scarnecchia said, explaining that candidates should be able to know the difference between being an officer on a college campus and being a city police officer. They should be able to "enhance the relationship between DPS and the campus community," she said.

Candidates also should have experience in handling large crowds. Many events associated with the University involve large assemblies of students like the Naked Mile and football games.

Following the appointment of the new director, DPS will try to find a replacement for Beth Hall, who left her post as DPS spokesperson after four years to spend more time with her family. University spokesperson Julie Peterson is filling Hall's position on an interim basis.

Peterson said it hasn't been too difficult to take up the extra responsibility. "I haven't had any major crises like last fall," she said, referring to the death of LSA first-year Courtney Cantor on Oct. 16. Cantor died after falling from her sixth-floor Mary Markley Residence Hall window.

"I understand the need to have the director in place" before DPS officials look for a new spokesperson, she said.

04-20-99