ASU Police Personnel

The ASU Police Department currently has 156 sworn and non-sworn personnel. There are 68 Police Officers certified by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. The remaining staff serves as support for the sworn staff in meeting the Department’s Mission.

Command Staff for the Police Department include:

1. Chief of Police;
2. Assistant Chief of Police, Operations;
3. Assistant Chief of Police, Administrative;
4. Four Operations Bureau Commanders (Tempe, Polytechnic, West and Downtown);
5. Administrative Bureau Commander

Administrative Division

Administrative Commander: This commander oversees the functions of: investigations, records, communications (dispatch), and training.  Assigned within those functions are: crime prevention, fleet, evidence, special events, and assignments to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and narcotics task force.

Communications Center (Dispatch): Provides dispatch services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; receives all non-emergency and emergency (911) calls for service from the University community and dispatches officers as needed for all campuses.   (Note, policing responsbilities related to criminal activity for the Phoenix Campus are handled by the Phoenix Police Department at this time.   Our dispatch center will forward all calls for service unless they can be handled by a police aide assigned to the Phoenix Campus (i.e. escorts, security checks, etc)). 

Investigations: Performs follow-up investigations of criminal cases based on solvability factors and perform criminal intelligence activities through officers assigned to the terrorism task force and other entities.

Property and Evidence Section: Provides for the security and control of seized, recovered and evidentiary property, as well as abandoned lost or found property in the custody of the agency. Requests, stores, issues and maintains division property.

Records/Key Control: Controls access to crime records; issues University keys as part of the University’s access control program.

Community-Based Policing: Responsible for campus focus areas within the ASU community.

Crime Prevention: Develops and coordinates crime prevention and campus-wide crime risk reduction and loss prevention programs. Devotes special attention to personal safety and theft reduction programs. They conduct vulnerability assessments, safety classes, demonstrations and awareness programs.  Provides safety brochures.

Special Events: Plans and organizes security for ASU Sun Devil football games, Gammage Auditorium events, concerts and other public events.  Additionally, they review all alcohol permits submitted for on campus events.

Training: Provides training for departmental personnel and maintains all training records per AZ Post standards.

Operational Division

Operational Commander: Administers the operational activities at all four campuses; oversees all patrol activities and community-based policing activities.

Duties of ASU Police Officers: Officers enforce state laws and enforce university and federal regulations (i.e. FERPA, CLERY, etc). They serve the university community by working in partnership to help deter, limit, and investigate criminal activity.   As part of their daily activities officers will patrol the campus to include residential facilities, academic and business buildings, and commercial businesses located across each campus.   Officers may be assigned to any of the four campuses and must become familiar with the similar, yet unique policing styles for each.  Officers are governed by the Arizona Police Officer Standards and Training board and each must follow AZPost policies and procedures as well as department and institutional polices.

Though sworn officers are usually assigned to patrol, there are many opportunities to move within the organization to achieve specialty skills and knowledge.   Some of these areas include: motorcycle patrol, bike patrol, investigations, crime prevention, special events (many opportunities for overtime), Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), and the narcotics task force.

Duties of ASU Police Aides: Police Aides are the “non-sworn” branch of the police department which functions much like the sworn branch in many regards.   Police Aides wear a department uniform, carry a radio and are an integral part of helping to assure the safety of students, staff, faculty, and visitors to ASU.  Police Aides can be assigned to each of the four campuses and must become familiar with the job functions for each campus.  Academic and commercial building security is a primary role for a police aide.  Additionally, they are assigned reports which do not require the attention of a sworn officer, direct traffic, provide escorts for callers when appropriate, and have the ability to work overtime events.  Currently, almost all Police Aides are assigned to the operations (patrol) division working in either a full time or half time position.  Half time employees enjoy the same cost saving tuition waiver as full time employees and are benefits eligible.

Other Areas

Business Operations: The Senior Business Operations Manager oversees all business operations and support for the department.  The staff within this unit is responsible for housing personnel files, human resource and hiring management, billing for the department, and payroll for regular work hours and overtime events.

Planning and Research Unit: Plans, coordinates and/or supervises a wide-range of planning and research activities to include attaining and maintaining international accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA). Develops policies, procedures, and programs to meet or exceed required CALEA standards. Acts as Accreditation Manager and provides overall supervision for the functions of re-accreditation.