DSU Police Department celebrates 25th anniversary

The Delaware State University Police Department began its existence as the jurisdictional law enforcement on campus in 2000 with two sworn officers – inaugural Police Chief Carl Wyche and then-Deputy Police Chief James Overton. The first police officers under them were certified the following year.

A quarter-century later, as the University has grown, so has its police force. The DSU Police Department covers the University’s two campuses in Dover as well as its two locations in Wilmington with 13 police officers and eight security officers.

The University celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Police Department with a June 27 ceremony in which it recognized its history and professionalism in public safety service to the institution.

For images from the ceremony, click on the link below:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/48216028@N03/albums/72177720327252264

As one who served from the inception of the campus law enforcement agency, Superintendent James Overton has truly risen through the ranks since its very beginning in 2000, when the student population was just over 3,100 – less than half its current enrollment.

“There was a need for sworn law enforcement at DSU,” Superintendent Overton said. “We were relying on the Dover Police Department, but we were taxing their services.”

The DSU Board of Trustees and then-President DeLauder decided that a University law enforcement agency had to become a part of the University’s growth in those years. The State of Delaware enacted legislation that made the DSU Police Department a reality. A federal COPS (Community Oriented Policing Service) grant of $500,000 enabled the University to hire its first police officers.

Chief Wyche – who came out of retirement from the Hampton Police Department to become DSU’s first Police Chief – led the University’s law enforcement agency until his second retirement in 2005. He was succeeded by Overton, who served as Police Chief until 2011.

After Chief Overton stepped down to become the Chief of Police of the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts, the University hired Harry Downes Jr., a former Delaware State Police major and 25-year trooper. After Chief Downes retired in 2021, he was succeeded by Wilmington Police Chief Bobby Cummings, who led the DSU police from 2021 to 2023.

Then, Overton returned to DSU in 2023, at first as Police Chief and then elevated in 2024 to Police Superintendent and Vice President of Student Affairs. At that same time, the University elevated Donald Baynard to the Police Chief post. Chief Baynard served as a DSU police officer from 2003 to 2012 and then joined Overton – his law enforcement mentor – at the University of Massachusetts. He then followed him back to DSU in 2023.

“The highlight for me is the professionalism of the DSU Police Department,” said Superintendent Overton. He noted that in addition to developing police officers, who go through the Police Academies of the State Police and Dover Police, the DSU Police Department has also attracted certified officers from other jurisdictions to bring their law enforcement experience to the University’s campus. Most recently, former Dover Police Deputy Chief Dave Spicer joined the DSU Police Department to serve in that same leadership capacity.

The DSU police agency began its existence in a cramped space on the west end of Memorial Hall’s classroom side. In 2003, it moved to Grossley Hall and later to its current building location between the Mishoe Science Center and the Price Building.

With the establishment of the DSU Police Department, new public safety technology came to the campus. The University first installed video surveillance in 2001 with 12 cameras on campus. With the ongoing increase of cameras over the years, there are currently more than 800 cameras inside and outside of buildings on all the University properties.

 Access Control (card swipe) technology became a reality on campus in 2002 and has been increased and upgraded ever since. While there were a few Blue Light Emergency Phone stations already on campus prior to the DSU Police Department’s establishment, the system has been extensively upgraded, and additional stations have been installed.

Currently, the University is installing weapons detectors at strategic locations on campus, as well as Guardian Speed Cameras to better enforce the speed limit on campus. Upgrades to the University police’s Dispatch Center took place in 2006, 2010, and 2019.

DSU President Tony Allen said that the University takes safety very seriously.

“Parents want their children to be safe at DSU, and I also want the same thing for our students, staff, and faculty,” Dr. Allen said. “And that is what the DSU Police Department does on the front line, and I can’t say enough about how well they do it.”