Members of the University police department, current and retired, came together Monday to celebrate 100 years at the centennial celebration of the department. The event was held on the west lawn of the Public Safety Building from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The University police department was created on Sept. 26, 1911. Before that, however, janitors acted as watchmen.
“They were the only unit that worked twenty-four hours a day,” said Kris Fitzpatrick, former University police chief.
In 1899, the University decided to hire one night watchman and one day watchman, but ended up only hiring one man, according to Fitzpatrick.
Finally, in 1911, the police department was created by the University’s Board of Trustees.
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Charles Moore, a former University police captain in investigative policing, worked for the department for 28 years, and retired in 2001.
There were only three other officers working with Moore in his department when he started in 1973.
Things now, he said, are much different than they used to be.
“Technology is (used) a lot more now than it was then,” Moore said. “You’ve got (ways of picking up) DNA and all sorts of fingerprints that they didn’t have before. Everything was paper, now it’s computerized. It’s much faster to get information back,” he said.
Deputy Chief of Police Jeff Christensen graduated from the University in 1985 and then started his career with the department.
He said more innovations have taken place during his time with the department.
“Just in those 25 years, the changes have been incredible with technology and advances,” he said. “You look back at all the things that were invented here, and where law enforcement is going with technology, and it’s neat to be tied to an institution such as this.”
Fitzpatrick agreed that the improvements in technology have helped them to do their jobs better.
“We’re miles ahead of just having a single radio in your car that sometimes worked and weighed about three or four pounds and you had to find a place to stick it on your gun belt,” she said.
Fitzpatrick added that since she started in 1977, the thing that has changed the most besides technology is professionalism.
“We had many individuals who had transferred in from other departments and their life-long goal wasn’t to be a police officer.
Now, you get individuals that are dedicating their lives to law enforcement,” she said.
