A 32-year veteran of Delaware law enforcement, Patrick Ogden has been leading the University of Delaware Police Department as chief of police since 2009. In that capacity, he oversees 54 state-certified police officers, 10 (911 Center) dispatchers, 20 security officers, 50 student cadets and 50 student emergency medical technicians who staff the department’s Emergency Care Unit (UDECU). Ogden has developed and implemented a range of innovative crime reduction and community policing strategies that have led to a nearly 60% reduction in Part I crimes on campus (robbery, burglary, theft and assault) in the last decade.

Last month, the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) announced that Ogden will begin serving as president-elect in June. (It is a three-year position, with one year as president-elect, one as president and one as immediate past president.) IACLEA is the largest professional association devoted to excellence in campus public safety and law enforcement, with a membership of police chiefs, public safety directors, law enforcement officers and security personnel at higher education institutions across the globe.

UDaily spoke with Ogden about the honor and his work on campus.

Q: What does this recognition mean for you and the department as a whole?

Ogden: Every police department has a mission or vision statement with core values. Part of the UDPD’s mission statement is to build our department into a dynamic leader in law enforcement by working with members of the University community and other law enforcement agencies. I think this is a great example of the success we’ve had in that regard. It’s an honor…it’s very exciting and humbling to have an opportunity that reinforces our vision of leadership and to represent our department and our community on an international stage.

Q: What are some of the highlights of the work you’ve done here, leading the department at a time of growth for UD?

Ogden: Certainly, some of the programs we started—developing the first Critical Incident Response Team, Crisis Negotiation Team, Community Resource Unit, K-9 Unit, police EMT program and patrol rifle program. The real highlight for me has been collaboration. I love to collaborate with members of the community, such as the fraternities and sororities and the Division of Student Life, as well as colleagues in the Newark Police Department.

I think I’m most proud of our leadership development. Our first line supervisors, the master corporals and sergeants, were all young officers with a year or so of experience when I first got here. We’ve put so much time and work into leadership development and it’s contributed to their growth and their commitment to our mission. We’re not about just suppressing crime and using arrests. We are law enforcement, but we are engaged in crime prevention and embrace those educational opportunities. When we make referrals to Student Conduct, it’s about education over sanctions. We are serious about being part of the education mission of the University.

Q: Can you talk about some of the unique challenges of running a campus public safety and law enforcement agency with that unique education mission in mind?

Ogden: I worked with the Delaware State Police for over 20 years and had an opportunity to see what policing is like at the state level. I come from a law enforcement family. My father and two of my older brothers were police officers in Wilmington. On campus, the community we serve has about a 25% turnover every year and that’s both a curse and a blessing — you have to go through a new class and keep them safe and set expectations for behavior while reinforcing good decision-making. You see them grow and then leave, which is hard. But it is a blessing to meet with all of these groups and use a community policing model to break down barriers, so that we’re not just seen as cops in a uniform, with a badge, but people who are part of a community.

We’re always re-introducing ourselves and getting involved, whether it’s through active shooter presentations or the self-defense classes we offer for female students, faculty and staff. And we have a Community Police Academy we started a few years ago, where we worked with Ivan Sun, professor of sociology, to make it a credit course. Students meet once a week throughout the semester for three hours, discussing critical issues in policing. We have a different person teaching each segment. It’s a unique experience for the students and they are really engaged. Last semester, we had a student apply to be a police officer with us and who just graduated from the Delaware State Police Academy and is now working with us as a police officer.

Q: We know you and the members of the department do a significant amount of crisis planning and training. What have the last few weeks been like in terms of responding to the coronavirus on campus?

Ogden: This is what’s unique about us. We are always planning for the worst and hoping for the best. With all of our training, even though this is an unprecedented situation, we’re not exactly seeing the same level of stress because the preparation is in our DNA. We’re doing everything we can to keep the campus safe and secure our buildings. Students left in a hurry and, in the process, left a number of unsecured bikes behind. We now have a project trying to secure all those bikes, rather than leave them to the elements or at risk of theft in the next few weeks. We want students to be able to retrieve their property. It’s an example of the preventative policing that we need to be thinking about and acting on in this situation.

Q: Any final thoughts you’d like to share?

Ogden: So much of our work comes down to collaboration. I’m a local guy, who spent my whole life and career in policing in Delaware and this is a chance to collaborate on an international level. I’ve served on the IACLEA board for two years and had the chance to connect with other chiefs and learned about best practices. There’s not a single road map that works for everyone, so it’s great to see different programs and consider how we can make elements of them work on this campus. I’m really humbled by the opportunity and the challenges ahead, the chance to serve UD and the association as well.