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Search committee narrows police chief search to 4 candidates

Finalists will attend tours, forums in next 2 weeks

Rick Boyd, one of four finalists for the position of university police chief, took a tour of the UA yesterday to get a better feel for the campus and working environment.

"I like the fact that this is a world class institution," said Boyd, an instructor at the National White Collar Crime Center in West Virginia. "What's not to like about the University of Arizona? It's incredible."

More than 100 applications were received by the search committee, some from members of agencies such as the Secret Service, said Mike Polakowski, chair of the search committee for a new UAPD chief.

It took the search committee about two months to "whittle it down to a core group of candidates," Polakowski said.

The 12 applicants that remained then had reference checks conducted, narrowing it to the four applicants remaining.

Besides Boyd, the other candidates include Ronald Seacrist, director of public safety at California State University-Northridge, Collier Hill, assistant chief of the Tucson Police Department, and Kathy Guimond, chief of police at the University of New Mexico.

Yesterday, following a full day of touring and meeting people from "all aspects" of the university, a forum was held to give members of the UA community the chance to meet and ask questions of Boyd.

While only five people were in attendance in the Modern Languages building Room 310 - where all of the forums were held - Boyd was asked several questions about what his experiences at other universities would yield to his performance at the UA.

"There is a certain kind of energy with a university environment," he said. "I never wanted to leave the campus environment to begin with."

Juliette Moore, director of campus recreation, asked what Boyd would look for when hiring a new officer.

"The type of individual that can readily be trusted," Boyd answered.

Another member of the group - Donald Deyoung, a UA animal care administrator - asked what Boyd would do in a situation like a Students Against Sweatshops sit-in or another act of protest on campus.

Boyd responded that he would like to have university police representatives assigned to those student groups that could create a working relationship.

"I don't think the university is served by an overreaction," Boyd explained.

One of the ideas that Boyd shared with the group was to create a campus police department that was more involved with the students and university organizations.

Boyd said that he would be in favor of having a police officer work out of each residence hall to establish a better relationship with the student body and to give the students "some sense of ownership (of their officer), and the officer to feel that these are my students."

"You can't judge these people (students) going from one party to the next on a Friday night," he added.

The forum concluded in about an hour. Polakowski passed around candidate evaluation sheets so that those in attendance could rate Boyd on communication skills, his vision for the future of the UAPD and his preparedness to take over the position of chief.

"I'd be lying to you if I said right now that I didn't feel a little stressed," Boyd said.

All candidates will go through the campus tour and forum that Boyd did.

Seacrist's is scheduled for April 27, Hill's will be on May 2 and Guimond will be at the UA on May 4.

At the end of the process, the search committee will compile all of the input from the forums and come to a decision about which candidate to present to UA President Peter Likins as their nomination to follow current chief Harry Hueston II.

The position opened in November, when Hueston announced that he was resigning. Hueston has been chief for the past two years and an officer with the UAPD for the past 15.

Hueston is scheduled to leave the department on June 30.

If Boyd was hired on as chief of police, he said that he would spend his first six months on the job doing, "my best imitation of a sponge."

"There's a lot of talented people (at the UA); anyone should feel fortunate to take the helm," he added.

Ryan Gabrielson can be reached at Ryan.Gabrielson@wildcat.arizona.edu.