Q&A with John Dailey

John Dailey, hired as Duke's new chief of police, began his term last Wednesday. Dailey was assistant police chief at North Carolina State University and a former Duke University Police Department patrol officer. The Chronicle's Caroline McGeough and Toni Wei sat down with the new chief Tuesday to discuss his new role, the challenges he faces and his goals for the department in the coming year.

The Chronicle: What skills or experiences have you taken away from your role as assistant police chief at N.C. State? How would you describe your leadership style there?

John Dailey: I think what I'm bringing from N.C. State is a pretty good understanding of operational issues within a police department. I also am bringing a lot of experience in working with many different departments across the University, whether it's Student Affairs, or [Residence Life and Housing Services] or [Human Resources]. And my leadership style, I think, is one of being open and really trying to seek out the opinions of the employees and of the community to try to determine where we need to go and formulate that into a strategy to move us forward.

TC: How are the University's campus security challenges different from those of N.C. State?

JD: Well, Duke is clearly unique because of just how spread out it is and the complexity of the Medical Center and what that adds with its 30,000 employees and 24/7 operations. There's a different crime problem in Durham in comparison to other cities, so that adds complexity too.

TC: You were at DUPD for eight years, starting in 1993. What was your experience like with DUPD then, and how will it shape the way you lead the department now?

JD: I was a patrol officer for a lot of that time, so that gives me some different insight about what the patrol officers are going through on a daily basis. It also gave me the opportunity to interact with students, faculty and staff--often at their worst-and some perspective about their problems. As I was here longer, I got to work on more projects and be more involved proactively, working on East Campus with the [resident assistants] and the students, so I got to form relationships with them.

TC: What new challenges does the department face now, as compared to when you were a patrol officer?

JD: We want to be connected to the community, and we want to become accredited. That's a pretty major undertaking which will take a few years to accomplish.

TC: There has been more emphasis placed recently on recruiting more DUPD officers who are well-suited to the kind of work that DUPD officers do on a daily basis. How do you plan to attract more of the officers who are best suited for this work?

JD: It's really important in the hiring process to identify individuals who are pretty self-aware and understand what it is they're looking for in their careers. We have to make sure that we're explaining really well what it means to be a police officer at Duke, and that the individual understands what they want.

TC: What are these primary day-to-day responsibilities of DUPD patrol officers?

JD: Most of your time at Duke or on most college campuses is not spent on calls for service-going to help somebody. Most of the time is spent hopefully doing proactive things, whether it's patrolling a parking lot where there have been a lot of break-ins or meeting with student groups. It's not like "Cops" on TV where everything is happening and there's one call after another. That doesn't happen on most college campuses.