New Public Safety chief seeks to involve students

Wellesley College police chief Steven Healy was named the University's director of Public Safety on Friday.

Donald Reichling, a 23-year veteran of Public Safety, will serve as acting director until Jan. 1, when Healy takes over. Jerrold Witsil, the last director, retired after a 27-year tenure on Oct. 31.

"I'm really looking forward to the opportunity," Healy said yesterday. "I've really had a good sense of belonging at every visit . . . You can't really describe it, that intuitive feel, and I got that."

The University felt the same way about Healy.

Charles Kalmbach '68, senior vice president for administration, said his advisory committee was unanimous in recommending Healy.

He added that Healy has worked in environments similar to the University campus throughout his career.

Healy has managed Wellesley's 20-member police staff since 1999. Before that, he was associate director of public safety at Syracuse University.

"One thing that I believe in very strongly is the need to establish a very strong relationship with the students," Healy said.

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Though Healy said Public Safety has been maintaining that relationship, he added he does not believe in maintaining the status quo.

At Wellesley, Healy implemented a workshop for incoming freshmen about the most pressing issues they face from a safety perspective, he said.

But, unlike the orientation lectures that have been used at Princeton in the past, Healy used music, lights, a Powerpoint presentation and a contest to appeal to students.

"It's engaging so students don't feel like they're listening to a bunch of old men and women in uniform," he said.

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Wellesley also has a community policing program in which each dormitory is assigned an officer.

"Students began to develop a relation with the officer," Healy said.

The point, he said, is "that we're able to talk to them in a way that they feel open."

Healy said Public Safety will continue to be concerned with students' risky behavior, such as high-risk drinking, which can lead to serious problems such as sexual assault.

Healy said Public Safety will try to train students to avoid those decisions.

Though Public Safety was left in great shape, Kalmbach said, newer challenges await Healy.

"The challenges going forward include incorporating into the role of Public Safety the recommendations of our 9/11 task force," Kalmbach said.

The security of University people and laboratories during a terrorist or foreign attack will be one focus, he said.

A U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, Healy was the deputy chief of police of the 170-person division at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in the early '90s.

Public Safety comprises about 60 employees.

Healy is the president of the Massachusetts Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators and a regional director of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, for which he is organizing a three-day conference starting Wednesday.

Healy was one of many contenders for "one of the premier public safety positions in the country," Kalmbach said. Some of the others, he said, are nationally-known figures in law enforcement.

"We all should be proud of the role that this department has," Kalmbach said.