,The Plymouth State University Police Department came under the direction of Chief Creig W. Doyle on October 1. The result of a lengthy hiring process, Chief Doyle brings a wealth of experience and foresight to the University Police Department.
Chief Doyle comes to Plymouth State University from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he was the Director of Security and Chief of Police at Carnegie Mellon University for seven years. Always desiring to live and work in New Hampshire, Doyle jumped at the opportunity for employment upon his discovery of Plymouth State’s job posting on the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) web site. Doyle had looked for work in the state of New Hampshire nine years ago and was a finalist in the towns of Laconia, Pelham, and Wolfeboro, however, he did not secure employment at that time. When asked why he wanted to work in New Hampshire, Chief Doyle replied, “My wife and I always wanted to live in New Hampshire. You don’t get environments much better than this.”
Doyle left Carnegie Mellon for a multitude of reasons. Its student population of approximately 15,000 students called for a large security and police force. Doyle supervised seventy-nine security and police personnel as well as eleven shuttle drivers, “I did not see my employees often, ” Doyle said, “Some employees I would only see at the annual Christmas party.” The size of the student population also made it difficult for Doyle to interact with the students. Doyle said,” Plymouth State is not as complicated an institution. I can have more interaction with the students here.”
At Carnegie Mellon, Doyle had major obstacles to overcome when he took the Director of Security/Chief of Police position. Doyle said, “I inherited a dysfunctional group of employees. It was a hostile work environment. There were internal and personal problems and issues. There was racial and sexual discrimination in the department.” Over time, Doyle solved the problems and produced Pennsylvania’s first state-accredited university police department.
Chief Doyle has expressed his desire to attain state and national accreditation for the University Police Department. Doyle said, “[I] will show that we do things right here… we have integrity. We want to provide the services the parents and students expect.” Doyle plans to make the officers and the department as visible and accessible as possible. Doyle explained that he wishes the officers to, “Be able to interact with students casually. We don’t want an adversarial relationship.”
When asked about the possibility of a Safe-Walk program at Plymouth State, Doyle answered, “Any program designed to keep students safe is good. To make it work, it must be student run,” Doyle added that the program, “Worked fairly well at Carnegie Mellon University.”
For more information about the University Police Department and its staff, visit Plymouth.edu/cpolice or call University Police at 535-2330.