John Dailey, assistant police chief at North Carolina State University, has been appointed Duke's chief of police, officials announced March 11. His term begins April 1.
Dailey will succeed Robert Dean, who served as director of Duke University Police Department from 2006 until last April. Dean retired after a four-decade stint with DUPD, including retirement from 2003 to 2006. In the year-long interim, DUPD command staff members have taken on more responsibilities to cover the duties of chief, Aaron Graves, associate vice president for campus safety and security, wrote in an e-mail.
"[Dailey] brings a great historical perspective of Duke and yet a very modern perspective of campus policing through his experience at [N.C.] State," said Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek, who served on the search committee.
The search for a new police chief began last Spring. A committee comprising administrators, faculty, staff and graduate and undergraduate students led the search with the help of a New York-based search firm.
"The first thing is to understand the concerns of the Duke community, faculty, staff and members of the police department and what everybody sees as the goals of the police department," Dailey said.
He also will inherit a department that has been plagued by officer attrition in recent years.
Nearly 50 percent of officers left DUPD between January 2006 and April 2008 because of dissatisfaction with the department's leadership and policies, The Chronicle reported last April. But Dailey said although he is not entirely clear on the situation, he is under the impression that attrition is no longer as pressing an issue.
Sibson Consulting, an international human resources firm hired by the University, investigated the rate of attrition and delivered its findings early last summer. Vice President for Campus Services Kemel Dawkins said in an interview with The Chronicle Feb. 24 that the findings are confidential. He attributed the large number of departing officers to their static roles and limited opportunities to move up the ranks because of a relatively small number of senior positions. Dawkins also mentioned compensation as an issue.
"It depends on what you expect out of your law enforcement experience," he said. "If you wanted to have lots of certain kinds of police scene activities, certain opportunities are rare and far between on campus. If you're expecting a fair amount of high-speed vehicle chases, that just doesn't happen. [A campus officer is] a patrolling role, a community service role, a safety role."
Dailey said a certain amount of turnover can be healthy for a police department because some members may not be the best fits. He noted that he plans meet with each DUPD employee individually to shape the most accommodating work conditions.
"It's important to create a good work environment where people want to be, to make sure we're hiring people that really want to be at Duke and want to do campus law enforcement," Dailey said. "I hope that people will see once I get there that I believe in an organization that is open and listens to its employees."
Graves said the prolonged process was a result of "many unforeseen delays."
"There were just some issues and some details throughout the process that we took the time to pursue-we didn't want to make a hasty decision, so we took our time," Wasiolek said, but she declined to comment on the specifics surrounding the issues.
Delays mainly stemmed from the committee's desire to find the perfect person for the position, said Jeremy Block, a graduate and professional student representative on the search committee. Block is a sixth-year Ph. D. in biochemistry and a candidate for the masters of public policy.
"I think it's just that we're very demanding. This is Duke University, we care about this a great deal," he said. "We want to get the right person and we have to be absolutely certain that they're the right person. If that means waiting, if that means we lose a candidate to someplace else before we even interview them because we're asking lots of questions and they find another job sooner, then so be it."
Block said candidates shared similar traits including an understanding of the University and knowledge of Duke's safety and crime history, but Dailey stood out because of his personal experience with Duke.
Dailey was a Duke security officer through his high school and college summers. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a bachelors degree in business. He then served six years in the U.S. Army before graduating from N.C. State with a master's degree in public administration. Dailey returned to work for DUPD in 1993 and left for N.C. State's department in 2001.
"I think it was just the right time for him, it was the right setup for him," Block said. "It was one of those things where he wanted to come back to Duke. He's got a lot of experience he brings with him that's going to be very good for our police department. He knows this area like the back of his hand, he cares about the student body and he has an understanding of what it means to be a Duke student."
During his term at N.C. State, a subordinate alleged gender discrimination against N.C. State police, including Dailey. The case ultimately was settled by the university out of court in 2006, and the university maintains its innocence, according to an April 28, 2007 article in The Technician at N.C. State.
The lawsuit was a topic of debate during the selection process, but committee members felt that Dailey was not at fault, Block said.
In addition to internal adjustments, Dailey will lead a three-year project that takes DUPD through the accreditation process for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.
Through the accreditation process, the department will be assessed on more than 400 standards that are considered best practices for the law enforcement community, to confirm that DUPD is meeting national expectations, Dailey said. The police departments at N.C. State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are accredited.
"As a result of this process, [Dailey] will put into place directives and procedures that will meet or exceed industry standards and establish the department as a source for the development of best practices," Graves said.
Caroline McGeough and Toni Wei contributed reporting.
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